cobrasvscompásWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cobras” and “compás” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,425
“cobras” frequency rank
#16,053
“compás” frequency rank
40478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cobras compás
Definition Forma del plural de cobra. Instrumento formado por dos piezas articuladas, utilizado para trazar círculos o traspasar medidas.

Where the eye mixes cobras and compás

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cobras and compás follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cobras
6 ch
compás

Visual trap between cobras and compás

A purely visual mix-up. cobras ([ˈkoβ̞ɾas]) and compás ([kõmˈpas]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cobras is recorded at frequency rank #24,425, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoβ̞ɾas]. compás is at rank #16,053, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kõmˈpas].

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 40478, this pair ranks #158,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cobras vs compás

Shared letters: cos. Private to "cobras": abr. Private to "compás": mpá.

"cobras" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "compás" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cobrascboras · ccobras · cobars · cobbras · cobrass · cobrras · cobrsa · corbas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cobras" and "compás" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkoβ̞ɾas] versus [kõmˈpas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cobras" vs "compás" - which ranks higher?
"compás" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,053 in our Spanish list, against #24,425 for "cobras". 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 "cobras" and "compás" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cobras" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compás" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cobras" and "compás" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cobras vs cojas". 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 #158,872 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