camisavscoisaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,132
“camisa” frequency rank
#105
“coisa” frequency rank
2237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature camisa coisa
Definition peça de vestuário para vestir de dia em tecido leve para o tronco e braços com a fralda curta qualquer objeto inanimado; em sentido filosófico, coisa é tudo aquilo subsistente por si mesmo; a filosofia kantiana afirma ser uma coisa aquilo que existe independentemente do espírito; no sentido usual, como para o Direito, coisa é tudo aquilo que, percebido pelos sentidos, pode apresentar utilidade para o homem, caso em que se chama bem material

Where the eye mixes camisa and coisa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
camisa
5 ch
coisa

Why the eye confuses camisa with coisa

A purely visual mix-up. camisa (/kɐ.ˈmi.zɐ/) and coisa ([ˈkojzɐ]) 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 2237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

camisa is recorded at frequency rank #2,132, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈmi.zɐ/. coisa is at rank #105, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkojzɐ].

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 2237, this pair ranks #73,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of camisa vs coisa

Shared letters: acis. Private to "camisa": m. Private to "coisa": o.

"camisa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "coisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • camisaacmisa · caimsa · camias · camissa · cammisa · camsia · ccamisa · cmaisa
  • coisaccoisa · ciosa · coias · coissa · cosia · ocisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "camisa" for "coisa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈmi.zɐ/ versus [ˈkojzɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "camisa" or "coisa" show up more?
"coisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #105 in our Portuguese list, against #2,132 for "camisa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "camisa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,218 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "camisa" and "coisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabina vs camisa". 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 #73,218 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