colarvscolherWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,984
“colar” frequency rank
#6,516
“colher” frequency rank
11500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colar colher
Definition ornamento ou insígnia que se usa em volta do pescoço utensílio formado por um cabo e uma parte côncava ou concha

Letter map: colar vs colher

Shared letters muted; letters that set colar and colher apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
colar
6 ch
colher

Pair insight - colar / colher

colar and colher are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colar is recorded at frequency rank #4,984, classified as anoun, pronounced /ku.ˈlaɾ/. colher is at rank #6,516, tagged as anoun.

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 11500, this pair ranks #61,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of colar vs colher

Shared letters: clor. Private to "colar": a. Private to "colher": eh.

"colar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "colher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colarccolar · cloar · coalr · colarr · collar · colra · oclar
  • colherccolher · cloher · cohler · colehr · colherr · colhher · colhre · collher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "colar" for "colher" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "colar" vs "colher" - which ranks higher?
"colar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,984 in our Portuguese list, against #6,516 for "colher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "colar" and "colher".

  • Full dictionary entry for "colar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colar" and "colher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clonar vs colar". 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 #61,325 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