coaçãovscriaçãoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,403
“coação” frequency rank
#770
“criação” frequency rank
28173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coação criação
Definition ação de coar; coa: fazer algo do nada; trazer algo à existência

Where the eye mixes coação and criação

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coação runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against criação's 7 (CCVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
coação
7 ch
criação

Visual trap between coação and criação

A purely visual mix-up. coação (/kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and criação (/kɾi.aˈsɐ̃w̃/ [kɾɪ.aˈsɐ̃ʊ̯̃]) 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 28173, 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/. criação is at rank #770, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɾi.aˈsɐ̃w̃/ [kɾɪ.aˈsɐ̃ʊ̯̃].

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 28173, this pair ranks #40,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coação vs criação

Shared letters: acoãç. Private to "coação": -. Private to "criação": ir.

"coação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "criação" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coação" and "criação" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kwa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /kɾi.aˈsɐ̃w̃/ [kɾɪ.aˈsɐ̃ʊ̯̃]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coação" or "criação" show up more?
"criação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #770 in our Portuguese list, against #27,403 for "coação". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "criação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coação" and "criação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coação vs conca". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #40,672 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