comervscompraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#753
“comer” frequency rank
#1,564
“compra” frequency rank
2317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comer compra
Definition comida, alimentos ato ou efeito de comprar

Where the eye mixes comer and compra

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

5 ch
comer
6 ch
compra

Look-alike desk: comer vs compra

A purely visual mix-up. comer (/ku.'me/) and compra (/ˈkõ.pɾɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comer is recorded at frequency rank #753, classified as anoun, pronounced /ku.'me/. compra is at rank #1,564, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkõ.pɾɐ/.

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 2317, this pair ranks #73,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comer vs compra

Shared letters: cmor. Private to "comer": e. Private to "compra": ap.

"comer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "compra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comerccomer · cmoer · coemr · comerr · commer · comre · ocmer
  • compraccompra · cmopra · commpra · compar · comppra · comrpa · copmra · ocmpra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comer" and "compra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ku.'me/ versus /ˈkõ.pɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "comer" vs "compra" - which ranks higher?
"comer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #753 in our Portuguese list, against #1,564 for "compra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comer" and "compra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "codex vs comer". 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 #73,108 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