cobardevscolarseWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cobarde is a adjective, colarse is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cobarde” is an adjective and “colarse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,272
“cobarde” frequency rank
#34,010
“colarse” frequency rank
41282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cobarde colarse
Definition Que no tiene valor para enfrentarse a las dificultades o para defender sus ideas; que tiene temor a los riesgos o exceso de prudencia. En una fila adelantarse a otra persona quitándole su puesto.

Where the eye mixes cobarde and colarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cobarde
7 ch
colarse

Look-alike desk: cobarde vs colarse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cobarde is [koˈβ̞aɾð̞e] while colarse is [koˈlaɾse]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cobarde is recorded at frequency rank #7,272, classified as anadj, pronounced [koˈβ̞aɾð̞e]. colarse is at rank #34,010, tagged as averb, pronounced [koˈlaɾse].

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 41282, this pair ranks #154,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cobarde vs colarse

Shared letters: aceor. Private to "cobarde": bd. Private to "colarse": ls.

"cobarde" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "colarse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cobardecboarde · ccobarde · coabrde · cobadre · cobardde · cobared · cobarrde · cobbarde
  • colarseccolarse · cloarse · coalrse · colarce · colarrse · colarsse · colasre · colrase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cobarde" and "colarse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cobarde" is an adjective and "colarse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cobarde" or "colarse"?
"cobarde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,272 in our Spanish list, against #34,010 for "colarse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cobarde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cobarde" and "colarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "citarse vs colarse". 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 #154,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list