clãvscomWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: clã is a noun, com is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“clã” is a noun and “com” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,588
“clã” frequency rank
#14
“com” frequency rank
8602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clã com
Definition grupo de famílias que se consideram descendentes dos mesmos ancestrais indica várias relações: companhia, causa, instrumento, ligação, modo, oposição

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set clã and com apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
clã
3 ch
com

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clã is /ˈklɐ̃/ while com is /kõ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clã is recorded at frequency rank #8,588, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɐ̃/. com is at rank #14, tagged as aprep, pronounced /kõ/.

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 8602, this pair ranks #65,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of clã vs com

Shared letters: c. Private to "clã": . Private to "com": mo.

"clã" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "com" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

clã#8,588
com#14

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "clã" and "com" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "clã" is a noun and "com" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "clã" or "com"?
"com" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14 in our Portuguese list, against #8,588 for "clã". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering clã vs com

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “clã”; for a preposition, it's “com”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “clã” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list