Which to use
“close” is a verb and “cos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,560
- “close” frequency rank
- #23,736
- “cos” frequency rank
- 56296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | close | cos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cerrar. | Cuerpo. |
Where the eye mixes close and cos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: close vs cos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: close is /kləʊz/ while cos is [ˈkos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
close is recorded at frequency rank #32,560, classified as averb, pronounced /kləʊz/. cos is at rank #23,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkos].
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 56296, this pair ranks #75,201 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of close vs cos
Shared letters: cos. Private to "close": el. Private to "cos": -.
"close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "cos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- close ← cclose · cllose · cloce · cloes · closse · clsoe · colse · lcose
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "close" for "cos" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "close" or "cos" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "close" and "cos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "close" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,201 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "close" and "cos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "close vs clown". 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 #75,201 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.