cojínvscomíanTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,502
“cojín” frequency rank
#27,156
“comían” frequency rank
61658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cojín comían
Definition Saco pequeño de material textil y relleno muelle, que se usa para apoyar con más comodidad alguna parte del cuerpo Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de comer o de comerse.

Where the eye mixes cojín and comían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cojín runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against comían's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cojín
6 ch
comían

Why the eye confuses cojín with comían

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cojín is [koˈxĩn] while comían is [koˈmiãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cojín is recorded at frequency rank #34,502, classified as anoun, pronounced [koˈxĩn]. comían is at rank #27,156, tagged as averb, pronounced [koˈmiãn].

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 61658, this pair ranks #54,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cojín vs comían

Shared letters: cnoí. Private to "cojín": j. Private to "comían": am.

"cojín" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "comían" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cojín" and "comían" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cojín" is a noun and "comían" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cojín" or "comían" show up more?
"comían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,156 in our Spanish list, against #34,502 for "cojín". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cojín" and "comían" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cojín" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cojín" and "comían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs cojín". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,686 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