Which to use
“colega” and “cólera” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,669
- “colega” frequency rank
- #16,025
- “cólera” frequency rank
- 18694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colega | cólera |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pessoa que pertence à mesma coletividade ou categoria | indignação |
Where the eye mixes colega and cólera
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. colega and cólera follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between colega and cólera
A purely visual mix-up. colega (/ku.ˈlɛ.ɡɐ/) and cólera (/ˈkɔ.lɨ.ɾɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colega is recorded at frequency rank #2,669, classified as anoun, pronounced /ku.ˈlɛ.ɡɐ/. cólera is at rank #16,025, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.lɨ.ɾɐ/.
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 18694, this pair ranks #52,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of colega vs cólera
Shared letters: acel. Private to "colega": go. Private to "cólera": ró.
"colega" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "cólera" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- colega ← ccolega · cloega · coelga · coleag · colegga · colgea · collega · oclega
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "colega" and "cólera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "colega" or "cólera" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "colega" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cólera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colega" and "cólera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colcha vs cólera". 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 #52,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.