cocervscoserWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,266
“cocer” frequency rank
#17,653
“coser” frequency rank
48919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cocer coser
Definition Cocinar sumergiendo los alimentos en agua muy caliente o hirviendo. Usar hilo para juntar pedazos de tela, cuero u otro material flexible.

Same sound, different letters: cocer vs coser

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
cocer
5 ch
coser

Homophone desk: cocer vs coser

This is the hard kind. cocer and coser are pronounced identically ([koˈseɾ]) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - c in “cocer” becomes s in “coser”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cocer is recorded at frequency rank #31,266, classified as averb, pronounced [koˈseɾ]. coser is at rank #17,653, tagged as averb, pronounced [koˈseɾ].

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 48919, this pair ranks #111,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cocer vs coser

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "cocer": -. Private to "coser": s.

"cocer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "coser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cocerccocer · ccoer · coccer · cocerr · cocre · coecr · occer
  • coserccoser · coesr · coserr · cosre · cosser · csoer · ocser

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cocer" and "coser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same ([koˈseɾ]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cocer" or "coser" show up more?
"coser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,653 in our Spanish list, against #31,266 for "cocer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "cocer" / "coser". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cocer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cocer" and "coser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cocer vs codex". 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 #111,777 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