cogitarvsconstarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,204
“cogitar” frequency rank
#12,409
“constar” frequency rank
46613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cogitar constar
Definition pensar profundamente sobre; refletir acerca de; analisar, considerar, imaginar estar escrito, incluído ou mencionado

Where the eye mixes cogitar and constar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cogitar (CVCVCVC) and constar (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
cogitar
7 ch
constar

Visual trap between cogitar and constar

A purely visual mix-up. cogitar (/ku.ʒi.ˈtaɾ/) and constar (/kõʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 46613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cogitar is recorded at frequency rank #34,204, classified as averb, pronounced /ku.ʒi.ˈtaɾ/. constar is at rank #12,409, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 46613, this pair ranks #18,692 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cogitar vs constar

Shared letters: acort. Private to "cogitar": gi. Private to "constar": ns.

"cogitar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "constar" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cogitar ← ccogitar · cgoitar · coggitar · cogiatr · cogitarr · cogitra · cogittar · cogtiar
  • constar ← cconstar · cnostar · connstar · consatr · consstar · constarr · constra · consttar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cogitar" for "constar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ku.ʒi.ˈtaɾ/ versus /kõʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cogitar" or "constar" show up more?
"constar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,409 in our Portuguese list, against #34,204 for "cogitar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cogitar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "constar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,692 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cogitar" and "constar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constar vs consumar". 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 #18,692 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