cobrenvscofresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cobren is a verb, cofres is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cobren” is a verb and “cofres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,286
“cobren” frequency rank
#42,885
“cofres” frequency rank
71171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cobren cofres
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de cobrar. Forma del plural de cofre.

Where the eye mixes cobren and cofres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cobren and cofres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cobren
6 ch
cofres

Why the eye confuses cobren with cofres

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cobren is [ˈkoβ̞ɾẽn] while cofres is [ˈkofɾes]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cobren is recorded at frequency rank #28,286, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkoβ̞ɾẽn]. cofres is at rank #42,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkofɾes].

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 71171, this pair ranks #28,070 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cobren vs cofres

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "cobren": bn. Private to "cofres": fs.

"cobren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cofres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cobren ← cboren · ccobren · cobbren · cobern · cobrenn · cobrne · cobrren · corben
  • cofres ← ccofres · cfores · cofers · coffres · cofress · cofrres · cofrse · corfes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cobren" and "cofres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cobren" is a verb and "cofres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cobren" or "cofres" show up more?
"cobren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,286 in our Spanish list, against #42,885 for "cofres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cobren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cofres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,070 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cobren" and "cofres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciprés vs cofres". 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 #28,070 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