coesãovscoleçãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,534
“coesão” frequency rank
#2,085
“coleção” frequency rank
20619
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coesão coleção
Definition o ato ou efeito de manter-se unido conjunto

Where the eye mixes coesão and coleção

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coesão runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against coleção's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
coesão
7 ch
coleção

Visual trap between coesão and coleção

A purely visual mix-up. coesão (/kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and coleção (/ko.le.ˈsɐ͂w/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coesão is recorded at frequency rank #18,534, classified as anoun, pronounced /kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. coleção is at rank #2,085, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ko.le.ˈsɐ͂w/.

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 20619, this pair ranks #49,843 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coesão vs coleção

Shared letters: ceoã. Private to "coesão": s. Private to "coleção": lç.

"coesão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "coleção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coesão" and "coleção" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ versus /ko.le.ˈsɐ͂w/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "coesão" or "coleção"?
"coleção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,085 in our Portuguese list, against #18,534 for "coesão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coesão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coleção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,843 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coesão" and "coleção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "césio vs coesão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,843 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