Which to use
“coação” and “cordão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,403
- “coação” frequency rank
- #11,038
- “cordão” frequency rank
- 38441
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coação | cordão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ação de coar; coa: | corda fina e flexível |
Where the eye mixes coação and cordão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coação (CVVCVV) and cordão (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between coação and cordão
A purely visual mix-up. coação (/kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and cordão (/kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/) 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 38441, 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/. cordão is at rank #11,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/.
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 38441, this pair ranks #28,016 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coação vs cordão
Shared letters: coã. Private to "coação": aç. Private to "cordão": dr.
"coação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "cordão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "coação" and "cordão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coação" or "cordão" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "coação" and "cordão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cordão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,016 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coação" and "cordão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coação vs conca". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #28,016 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.