captarvscausarConfusable pair

Which to use

“captar” and “causar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,666
“captar” frequency rank
#2,619
“causar” frequency rank
13285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature captar causar
Definition atrair por captação fazer acontecer, ser causa de

Where the eye mixes captar and causar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
captar
6 ch
causar

Why the eye confuses captar with causar

A purely visual mix-up. captar (/kɐ.pˈtaɾ/) and causar (/kaw.ˈzaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

captar is recorded at frequency rank #10,666, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ.pˈtaɾ/. causar is at rank #2,619, tagged as averb, pronounced /kaw.ˈzaɾ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 13285, this pair ranks #59,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of captar vs causar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "captar": pt. Private to "causar": su.

"captar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "causar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • captaracptar · capatr · capptar · captarr · captra · capttar · catpar · ccaptar
  • causarcasuar · cauasr · causarr · causra · caussar · ccausar · cuasar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "captar" and "causar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.pˈtaɾ/ versus /kaw.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "captar" or "causar"?
"causar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,619 in our Portuguese list, against #10,666 for "captar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "captar" and "causar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "captar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "captar" and "causar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "captar vs copta". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #59,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list