Which to use
“coesão” and “colisão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,534
- “coesão” frequency rank
- #9,976
- “colisão” frequency rank
- 28510
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coesão | colisão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o ato ou efeito de manter-se unido | choque |
Where the eye mixes coesão and colisão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coesão runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against colisão's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses coesão with colisão
A purely visual mix-up. coesão (/kwe.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and colisão (/ku.li.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 28510, 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/. colisão is at rank #9,976, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.li.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.
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 28510, this pair ranks #40,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coesão vs colisão
Shared letters: cosã. Private to "coesão": e. Private to "colisão": il.
"coesão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "colisão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coesão" for "colisão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coesão" or "colisão" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coesão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colisão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coesão" and "colisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "césio vs coesão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #40,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.