Which to use
“com” is a preposition and “cova” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14
- “com” frequency rank
- #10,164
- “cova” frequency rank
- 10178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | com | cova |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | indica várias relações: companhia, causa, instrumento, ligação, modo, oposição | abertura na terra |
Where the eye mixes com and cova
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between com and cova
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: com is /kõ/ while cova is /ˈkɔ.vɐ/. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
com is recorded at frequency rank #14, classified as aprep, pronounced /kõ/. 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 10178, this pair ranks #63,007 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of com vs cova
Shared letters: co. Private to "com": m. Private to "cova": av.
"com" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cova" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cova ← ccova · coav · covva · cvoa · ocva
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "com" for "cova" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "com" or "cova" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "com" 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 #63,007 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "com" and "cova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs cova". 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 #63,007 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.