Which to use
“coação” and “coesão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,403
- “coação” frequency rank
- #18,534
- “coesão” frequency rank
- 45937
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coação | coesão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ação de coar; coa: | o ato ou efeito de manter-se unido |
Where the eye mixes coação and coesão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coação and coesão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: coação vs coesão
A purely visual mix-up. coação (/kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and coesão (/kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 45937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coação is recorded at frequency rank #27,403, classified as anoun, pronounced /kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. coesão is at rank #18,534, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.
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 45937, this pair ranks #19,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coação vs coesão
Shared letters: coã. Private to "coação": aç. Private to "coesão": es.
"coação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "coesão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coação" and "coesão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "coação" or "coesão"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coesão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coação" and "coesão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coação vs conca". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #19,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.