coisavscopaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#105
“coisa” frequency rank
#596
“copa” frequency rank
701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coisa copa
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 vaso fundo, de dimensões e formas variáveis, para bebidas; taça

Where the eye mixes coisa and copa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
coisa
4 ch
copa

Why the eye confuses coisa with copa

A purely visual mix-up. coisa ([ˈkojzɐ]) and copa (/ˈkɔ.pɐ/) 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 701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coisa is recorded at frequency rank #105, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkojzɐ]. copa is at rank #596, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.pɐ/.

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 701, this pair ranks #74,952 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coisa vs copa

Shared letters: aco. Private to "coisa": is. Private to "copa": p.

"coisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "copa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coisaccoisa · ciosa · coias · coissa · cosia · ocisa
  • copaccopa · coap · coppa · cpoa · ocpa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coisa" and "copa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkojzɐ] versus /ˈkɔ.pɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coisa" or "copa" show up more?
"coisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #105 in our Portuguese list, against #596 for "copa". 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 "coisa" and "copa" 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 "copa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,952 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coisa" and "copa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs copa". 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 #74,952 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