cobrevscoqueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,312
“cobre” frequency rank
#47,683
“coque” frequency rank
51995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cobre coque
Definition Elemento químico, metálico y sólido, de número atómico 29 y símbolo Cu. Es un metal de color rojizo brillante, que se cubre de una leve capa de óxido negruzco al aire; es uno de los mejores conductores de la electricidad, después del oro y la plata. Combustible sólido y ligero, obtenido por la calcinación de la hulla.

Where the eye mixes cobre and coque

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cobre
5 ch
coque

Look-alike desk: cobre vs coque

A purely visual mix-up. cobre ([ˈkoβ̞ɾe]) and coque ([ˈkoke]) 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 51995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cobre is recorded at frequency rank #4,312, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoβ̞ɾe]. coque is at rank #47,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoke].

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 51995, this pair ranks #94,955 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cobre vs coque

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "cobre": br. Private to "coque": qu.

"cobre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "coque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cobrecbore · ccobre · cobbre · cober · cobrre · corbe · covre · ocbre
  • coqueccoque · coqeu · coqque · couqe · cqoue · ocque

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cobre" and "coque" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkoβ̞ɾe] versus [ˈkoke]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cobre" vs "coque" - which ranks higher?
"cobre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,312 in our Spanish list, against #47,683 for "coque". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cobre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,955 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cobre" and "coque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coloqué vs coque". 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 #94,955 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