Which to use
“coação” and “colchão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,403
- “coação” frequency rank
- #11,832
- “colchão” frequency rank
- 39235
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coação | colchão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ação de coar; coa: | grande almofada cheia de uma substância flexível sobre a qual as pessoas se deitam |
Where the eye mixes coação and colchão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coação runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against colchão's 7 (CVCCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between coação and colchão
A purely visual mix-up. coação (/kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and colchão (/koɫ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) 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 39235, 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/. colchão is at rank #11,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced /koɫ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/.
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 39235, this pair ranks #27,064 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coação vs colchão
Shared letters: coã. Private to "coação": aç. Private to "colchão": hl.
"coação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "colchão" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coação" for "colchão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "coação" or "colchão"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "coação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colchão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,064 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coação" and "colchão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coação vs conca". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #27,064 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.