compásvscosasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,053
“compás” frequency rank
#107
“cosas” frequency rank
16160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compás cosas
Definition Instrumento formado por dos piezas articuladas, utilizado para trazar círculos o traspasar medidas. Forma del plural de cosa.

Where the eye mixes compás and cosas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
compás
5 ch
cosas

Why the eye confuses compás with cosas

A purely visual mix-up. compás ([kõmˈpas]) and cosas ([ˈkosas]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compás is recorded at frequency rank #16,053, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõmˈpas]. cosas is at rank #107, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkosas].

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 16160, this pair ranks #277,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of compás vs cosas

Shared letters: cos. Private to "compás": mpá. Private to "cosas": a.

"compás" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cosas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cosasccosas · coass · cosass · cossa · cossas · csoas · ocsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "compás" and "cosas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõmˈpas] versus [ˈkosas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "compás" or "cosas"?
"cosas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #107 in our Spanish list, against #16,053 for "compás". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "compás" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cosas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compás" and "cosas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comba vs compás". 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 #277,281 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