cofrevscouveTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,689
“cofre” frequency rank
#19,671
“couve” frequency rank
33360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cofre couve
Definition local onde se guardam dinheiro e objetos de valor planta hortense da família das crucíferas cujo nome científico é Brassica oleracea

Where the eye mixes cofre and couve

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cofre (CVCCV) and couve (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
cofre
5 ch
couve

Visual trap between cofre and couve

A purely visual mix-up. cofre (/ˈkɔ.fɾɨ/) and couve (/ˈkow.vɨ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cofre is recorded at frequency rank #13,689, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.fɾɨ/. couve is at rank #19,671, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkow.vɨ/.

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 33360, this pair ranks #34,195 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cofre vs couve

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "cofre": fr. Private to "couve": uv.

"cofre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "couve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cofre ← ccofre · cfore · cofer · coffre · cofrre · corfe · ocfre
  • couve ← ccouve · couev · couvve · covue · cuove · ocuve

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cofre" and "couve" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɔ.fɾɨ/ versus /ˈkow.vɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cofre" or "couve" show up more?
"cofre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,689 in our Portuguese list, against #19,671 for "couve". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cofre" and "couve" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cofre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "couve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,195 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cofre" and "couve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coice vs couve". 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 #34,195 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