coma vs comme, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“coma” is a noun and “comme” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,925
“coma” frequency rank: #36,383
“comme” frequency rank: 42308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	coma	comme
Definition	estado patológico de inconsciência em que, até onde se sabe, o organismo mantém pouco mais do que as funções respiratória e circulatória:	como.

Where the eye mixes coma and comme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch

coma

5 ch

comme

Visual trap between coma and comme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coma is /ˈko.mɐ/ while comme is [kɔm]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coma is recorded at frequency rank #5,925, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈko.mɐ/. comme is at rank #36,383, tagged as anadv, pronounced [kɔm].

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 42308, this pair ranks #23,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coma vs comme

Shared letters: cmo. Private to "coma": a. Private to "comme": e.

"coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "comme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

coma ← ccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma
comme ← ccomme · cmome · come · comem · ocmme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coma" for "comme" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coma" is a noun and "comme" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "coma" vs "comme" - which ranks higher?

"coma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,925 in our Portuguese list, against #36,383 for "comme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "coma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "comme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #23,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"coma" and "comme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coice vs comme". 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 #23,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.