chinavscoisaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,005
“china” frequency rank
#105
“coisa” frequency rank
1110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature china coisa
Definition tipo de prato usado em baterias 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 china and coisa

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

5 ch
china
5 ch
coisa

Visual trap between china and coisa

A purely visual mix-up. china (/ʃi.na/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

china is recorded at frequency rank #1,005, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃi.na/. 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 1110, this pair ranks #74,511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of china vs coisa

Shared letters: aci. Private to "china": hn. Private to "coisa": os.

"china" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "coisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chinacchina · chhina · chian · chinna · chnia · cihna · hcina
  • coisaccoisa · ciosa · coias · coissa · cosia · ocisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "china" and "coisa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ʃi.na/ versus [ˈkojzɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "china" or "coisa" show up more?
"coisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #105 in our Portuguese list, against #1,005 for "china". 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 "china" 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 #74,511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "china" and "coisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabina vs china". 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 #74,511 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