colmeiavscolóniaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,608
“colmeia” frequency rank
#14,539
“colónia” frequency rank
38147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colmeia colónia
Definition cortiço ou outra instalação de abelhas grupo de indivíduos que se deslocam juntos para um mesmo fim

Where the eye mixes colmeia and colónia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. colmeia (CVCCVVV) and colónia (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
colmeia
7 ch
colónia

Look-alike desk: colmeia vs colónia

A purely visual mix-up. colmeia (/koɫ.ˈmɐj.ɐ/) and colónia (/ku.ˈlɔ.njɐ/) 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 38147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colmeia is recorded at frequency rank #23,608, classified as anoun, pronounced /koɫ.ˈmɐj.ɐ/. colónia is at rank #14,539, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.ˈlɔ.njɐ/.

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 38147, this pair ranks #28,362 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of colmeia vs colónia

Shared letters: acilo. Private to "colmeia": em. Private to "colónia": .

"colmeia" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "colónia" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colmeiaccolmeia · clomeia · colemia · collmeia · colmeai · colmiea · colmmeia · comleia

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "colmeia" and "colónia" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/koɫ.ˈmɐj.ɐ/ versus /ku.ˈlɔ.njɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "colmeia" or "colónia"?
"colónia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,539 in our Portuguese list, against #23,608 for "colmeia". 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 "colmeia" and "colónia" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "colmeia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colónia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,362 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colmeia" and "colónia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colónia vs colono". 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 #28,362 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