calmavscomaTell them apart

Quick tell: calma is a intj, coma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calma” is an intj and “coma” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,600
“calma” frequency rank
#5,925
“coma” frequency rank
7525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calma coma
Definition expressa incitamento a apaziguação em uma situação tensa estado patológico de inconsciência em que, até onde se sabe, o organismo mantém pouco mais do que as funções respiratória e circulatória:

Where the eye mixes calma and coma

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

5 ch
calma
4 ch
coma

Look-alike desk: calma vs coma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calma is /ˈkaɫ.mɐ/ while coma is /ˈko.mɐ/. 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 (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calma is recorded at frequency rank #1,600, classified as anintj, pronounced /ˈkaɫ.mɐ/. coma is at rank #5,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈko.mɐ/.

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 7525, this pair ranks #66,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of calma vs coma

Shared letters: acm. Private to "calma": l. Private to "coma": o.

"calma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • calmaaclma · calam · callma · calmma · camla · ccalma · clama
  • comaccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "calma" for "coma" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calma" is an intj and "coma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "calma" or "coma" show up more?
"calma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,600 in our Portuguese list, against #5,925 for "coma". 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 "calma" and "coma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calma" and "coma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coma vs conca". 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 #66,590 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