Which to use
“cobre” is a noun and “contre” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,888
- “cobre” frequency rank
- #45,771
- “contre” frequency rank
- 49659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cobre | contre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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 | contra, encostado em, perto de, próximo a: |
Where the eye mixes cobre and contre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cobre vs contre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cobre is /ˈkɔ.bɾi/ while contre is /kɔ̃tʁ/. 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cobre is recorded at frequency rank #3,888, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.bɾi/. contre is at rank #45,771, tagged as aprep, pronounced /kɔ̃tʁ/.
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 49659, this pair ranks #15,322 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cobre vs contre
Shared letters: ceor. Private to "cobre": b. Private to "contre": nt.
"cobre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cobre" and "contre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cobre" or "contre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cobre" and "contre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cobre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,322 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cobre" and "contre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coentro 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 #15,322 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.