coçar vs comer, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“coçar” is a verb and “comer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,956
“coçar” frequency rank: #753
“comer” frequency rank: 24709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	coçar	comer
Definition	esfregar com as unhas, ou com outro objeto, qualquer parte do corpo onde se sente comichão	comida, alimentos

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set coçar and comer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

coçar

5 ch

comer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coçar is /ku.ˈsaɾ/ while comer is /ku.'me/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coçar is recorded at frequency rank #23,956, classified as averb, pronounced /ku.ˈsaɾ/. comer is at rank #753, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.'me/.

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 24709, this pair ranks #44,832 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coçar vs comer

Shared letters: cor. Private to "coçar": aç. Private to "comer": em.

"coçar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "comer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

comer ← ccomer · cmoer · coemr · comerr · commer · comre · ocmer

Frequency comparison

coçar#23,956

comer#753

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coçar" and "comer" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coçar" is a verb and "comer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "coçar" or "comer"?

"comer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #753 in our Portuguese list, against #23,956 for "coçar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering coçar vs comer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “coçar”; for a noun, it's “comer”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “coçar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable