Which to use
“cobrar” is a verb and “cobre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,175
- “cobrar” frequency rank
- #3,888
- “cobre” frequency rank
- 9063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cobrar | cobre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pedir ou ordenar o recebimento de algo | elemento de símbolo Cu, possui o número atômico 29 e massa atômica relativa de 63,536 u; é um metal avermelhado, encontrado na natureza associado a minérios como a cuprita, malaquita, calcopirita e a bornita; por ser excelente condutor de eletricidade e muito resistente à corrosão, é empregado em condutores elétricos, motores, eletroímãs e encanamentos |
Where the eye mixes cobrar and cobre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cobrar runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cobre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cobrar and cobre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cobrar is /ko.ˈbɾaχ/ while cobre is /ˈkɔ.bɾi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cobrar is recorded at frequency rank #5,175, classified as averb, pronounced /ko.ˈbɾaχ/. cobre is at rank #3,888, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.bɾi/.
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 9063, this pair ranks #64,497 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cobrar vs cobre
Shared letters: bcor. Private to "cobrar": a. Private to "cobre": e.
"cobrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cobre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cobrar" and "cobre" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cobrar" or "cobre" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cobrar" and "cobre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cobrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cobre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,497 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cobrar" and "cobre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cobre vs contre". 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 #64,497 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.