catavscovaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,681
“cata” frequency rank
#10,164
“cova” frequency rank
41845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cata cova
Definition busca abertura na terra

Where the eye mixes cata and cova

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cata
4 ch
cova

Why the eye confuses cata with cova

A purely visual mix-up. cata (/ˈka.tɐ/) and cova (/ˈkɔ.vɐ/) 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 41845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cata is recorded at frequency rank #31,681, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.tɐ/. cova is at rank #10,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.vɐ/.

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 41845, this pair ranks #24,025 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cata vs cova

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cata": t. Private to "cova": ov.

"cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cova" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cataacta · caat · catta · ccata · ctaa
  • covaccova · coav · covva · cvoa · ocva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cata" for "cova" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.tɐ/ versus /ˈkɔ.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cata" or "cova"?
"cova" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,164 in our Portuguese list, against #31,681 for "cata". 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 "cata" and "cova" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cova" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,025 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cata" and "cova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cata vs copta". 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 #24,025 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