commevscouveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: comme is a adverb, couve is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#36,383
“comme” frequency rank
#19,671
“couve” frequency rank
56054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comme couve
Definition como. planta hortense da família das crucíferas cujo nome científico é Brassica oleracea

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set comme and couve apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
comme
5 ch
couve

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: comme is [kɔm] while couve is /ˈkow.vɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comme is recorded at frequency rank #36,383, classified as anadv, pronounced [kɔm]. couve is at rank #19,671, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkow.vɨ/.

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 56054, this pair ranks #10,207 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of comme vs couve

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "comme": m. Private to "couve": uv.

"comme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "couve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commeccomme · cmome · come · comem · ocmme
  • couveccouve · couev · couvve · covue · cuove · ocuve

Frequency comparison

comme#36,383
couve#19,671

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comme" and "couve" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "comme" is an adverb and "couve" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "comme" or "couve"?
"couve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,671 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.

Remembering comme vs couve

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “comme”; for a noun, it's “couve”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “comme” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list