coisavscolisãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#105
“coisa” frequency rank
#9,976
“colisão” frequency rank
10081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coisa colisão
Definition qualquer objeto inanimado; em sentido filosófico, coisa é tudo aquilo subsistente por si mesmo; a filosofia kantiana afirma ser uma coisa aquilo que existe independentemente do espírito; no sentido usual, como para o Direito, coisa é tudo aquilo que, percebido pelos sentidos, pode apresentar utilidade para o homem, caso em que se chama bem material choque

Where the eye mixes coisa and colisão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coisa runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against colisão's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
coisa
7 ch
colisão

Why the eye confuses coisa with colisão

A purely visual mix-up. coisa ([ˈkojzɐ]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coisa is recorded at frequency rank #105, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkojzɐ]. 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 10081, this pair ranks #63,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coisa vs colisão

Shared letters: cios. Private to "coisa": a. Private to "colisão": lã.

"coisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "colisão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coisa ← ccoisa · ciosa · coias · coissa · cosia · ocisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coisa" and "colisão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkojzɐ] versus /ku.li.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coisa" vs "colisão" - which ranks higher?
"coisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #105 in our Portuguese list, against #9,976 for "colisão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coisa" 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 #63,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coisa" and "colisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colisão vs colosso". 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 #63,144 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