coatvscomaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,949
“coat” frequency rank
#5,925
“coma” frequency rank
46874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coat coma
Definition casaco estado patológico de inconsciência em que, até onde se sabe, o organismo mantém pouco mais do que as funções respiratória e circulatória:

Where the eye mixes coat and coma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
coat
4 ch
coma

Visual trap between coat and coma

A purely visual mix-up. coat (/koʊt/) and coma (/ˈko.mɐ/) 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 46874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coat is recorded at frequency rank #40,949, classified as anoun, pronounced /koʊt/. coma is at rank #5,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈko.mɐ/.

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 46874, this pair ranks #18,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of coat vs coma

Shared letters: aco. Private to "coat": t. Private to "coma": m.

"coat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coatcaot · ccoat · coatt · ocat
  • comaccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coat" and "coma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/koʊt/ versus /ˈko.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coat" or "coma" show up more?
"coma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,925 in our Portuguese list, against #40,949 for "coat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coat" and "coma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chau vs coat". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #18,426 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