Which to use
“coat” and “cost” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,949
- “coat” frequency rank
- #22,928
- “cost” frequency rank
- 63877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coat | cost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | casaco | custo |
Where the eye mixes coat and cost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. coat (CVVC) and cost (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses coat with cost
A purely visual mix-up. coat (/koʊt/) and cost (/ˈkɔst/) 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 a single letter - a in “coat” becomes s in “cost”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63877, 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/. cost is at rank #22,928, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔst/.
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 63877, this pair ranks #6,005 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coat vs cost
Shared letters: cot. Private to "coat": a. Private to "cost": s.
"coat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coat" and "cost" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coat" or "cost" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "coat" and "cost" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,005 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coat" and "cost" 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 #6,005 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.