comavscomunaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,925
“coma” frequency rank
#9,979
“comuna” frequency rank
15904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coma comuna
Definition estado patológico de inconsciência em que, até onde se sabe, o organismo mantém pouco mais do que as funções respiratória e circulatória: na Idade Média, cidade que conseguia a independência de um feudo

Where the eye mixes coma and comuna

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
coma
6 ch
comuna

Visual trap between coma and comuna

A purely visual mix-up. coma (/ˈko.mɐ/) and comuna (/ku.ˈmu.nɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15904, 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/. comuna is at rank #9,979, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.ˈmu.nɐ/.

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 15904, this pair ranks #55,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coma vs comuna

Shared letters: acmo. Private to "coma": -. Private to "comuna": nu.

"coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "comuna" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comaccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma
  • comunaccomuna · cmouna · communa · comnua · comuan · comunna · coumna · ocmuna

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coma" for "comuna" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈko.mɐ/ versus /ku.ˈmu.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "coma" or "comuna" show up more?
"coma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,925 in our Portuguese list, against #9,979 for "comuna". 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 "comuna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coma" and "comuna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comuna vs comunais". 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 #55,818 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