coldvscovaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cold is a adjective, cova is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cold” is an adjective and “cova” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,538
“cold” frequency rank
#10,164
“cova” frequency rank
24702
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cold cova
Definition frio abertura na terra

Where the eye mixes cold and cova

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cold
4 ch
cova

Visual trap between cold and cova

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cold is /koʊld/ while cova is /ˈkɔ.vɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cold is recorded at frequency rank #14,538, classified as anadj, pronounced /koʊld/. cova is at rank #10,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.vɐ/.

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 24702, this pair ranks #44,842 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cold vs cova

Shared letters: co. Private to "cold": dl. Private to "cova": av.

"cold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cova" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coldccold · clod · codl · coldd · colld · ocld
  • covaccova · coav · covva · cvoa · ocva

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cold" and "cova" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cold" is an adjective and "cova" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cold" or "cova"?
"cova" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,164 in our Portuguese list, against #14,538 for "cold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cova" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,842 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cold" and "cova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs cold". 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 #44,842 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