cadeiravscoceiraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cadeira” and “coceira” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,820
“cadeira” frequency rank
#24,565
“coceira” frequency rank
27385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadeira coceira
Definition objeto do mobiliário sobre o qual se assenta, normalmente composta por quatro pés, um assento e um encosto comichão, pruído, prurito

Where the eye mixes cadeira and coceira

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cadeira and coceira follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
cadeira
7 ch
coceira

Visual trap between cadeira and coceira

A purely visual mix-up. cadeira (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/) and coceira (/ku.ˈsɐj.ɾɐ/) 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 27385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadeira is recorded at frequency rank #2,820, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/. coceira is at rank #24,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.ˈsɐj.ɾɐ/.

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 27385, this pair ranks #41,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadeira vs coceira

Shared letters: aceir. Private to "cadeira": d. Private to "coceira": o.

"cadeira" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "coceira" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadeiraacdeira · caddeira · cadeiar · cadeirra · caderia · cadiera · caedira · ccadeira
  • coceiraccoceira · ccoeira · cocceira · coceiar · coceirra · coceria · cociera · coecira

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cadeira" for "coceira" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/ versus /ku.ˈsɐj.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cadeira" vs "coceira" - which ranks higher?
"cadeira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,820 in our Portuguese list, against #24,565 for "coceira". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadeira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coceira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadeira" and "coceira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coceira vs coveiro". 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 #41,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list