cohesiónvscolusiónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,790
“cohesión” frequency rank
#39,118
“colusión” frequency rank
53908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cohesión colusión
Definition Acción y efecto de adherirse o reunirse y enlazarse las cosas entre sí. Acción o efecto de coludir; convenio secreto e ilícito entre dos o más sujetos, con objeto de perjudicar a un tercero.

Where the eye mixes cohesión and colusión

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cohesión and colusión follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
cohesión
8 ch
colusión

Why the eye confuses cohesión with colusión

A purely visual mix-up. cohesión ([koeˈsjõn]) and colusión ([koluˈsjõn]) 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 53908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cohesión is recorded at frequency rank #14,790, classified as anoun, pronounced [koeˈsjõn]. colusión is at rank #39,118, tagged as anoun, pronounced [koluˈsjõn].

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 53908, this pair ranks #85,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cohesión vs colusión

Shared letters: cinosó. Private to "cohesión": eh. Private to "colusión": lu.

"cohesión" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "colusión" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cohesión" and "colusión" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([koeˈsjõn] versus [koluˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cohesión" or "colusión"?
"cohesión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,790 in our Spanish list, against #39,118 for "colusión". 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 "cohesión" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colusión" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #85,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cohesión" and "colusión" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colusión vs confusion". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #85,669 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