colarvscontarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: colar is a noun, contar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“colar” is a noun and “contar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,984
“colar” frequency rank
#740
“contar” frequency rank
5724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colar contar
Definition ornamento ou insígnia que se usa em volta do pescoço enumerar os elementos de uma série

Where the eye mixes colar and contar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
colar
6 ch
contar

Look-alike desk: colar vs contar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: colar is /ku.ˈlaɾ/ while contar is /kõ.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5724, 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/. contar is at rank #740, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.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 5724, this pair ranks #68,838 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of colar vs contar

Shared letters: acor. Private to "colar": l. Private to "contar": nt.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colarccolar · cloar · coalr · colarr · collar · colra · oclar
  • contarccontar · cnotar · conatr · conntar · contarr · conttar · cotnar · ocntar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "colar" and "contar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "colar" is a noun and "contar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "colar" or "contar"?
"contar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #740 in our Portuguese list, against #4,984 for "colar". 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 "colar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,838 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colar" and "contar" 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 #68,838 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