cóleravscostraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,121
“cólera” frequency rank
#44,080
“costra” frequency rank
54201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cólera costra
Definition Bilis. Tejido temporal formado por las plaquetas que cubre una herida para proteger la dermis durante el proceso de regeneración.

Where the eye mixes cólera and costra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cólera (CVCVCV) and costra (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cólera
6 ch
costra

Visual trap between cólera and costra

A purely visual mix-up. cólera ([ˈkoleɾa]) and costra ([ˈkost̪ɾa]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cólera is recorded at frequency rank #10,121, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoleɾa]. costra is at rank #44,080, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkost̪ɾa].

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 54201, this pair ranks #84,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cólera vs costra

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cólera": eló. Private to "costra": ost.

"cólera" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "costra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • costra ← ccostra · cosrta · cosstra · costrra · costtra · cotsra · csotra · ocstra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cólera" for "costra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkoleɾa] versus [ˈkost̪ɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cólera" or "costra"?
"cólera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,121 in our Spanish list, against #44,080 for "costra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cólera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cólera" and "costra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casará vs costra". 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 #84,362 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