conchavscunhaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,285
“concha” frequency rank
#3,001
“cunha” frequency rank
18286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concha cunha
Definition invólucro calcário ou córneo de certos animais peça de metal ou madeira dura, em forma de prisma agudo em um dos lados, e que se insere no vértice de um corte para melhor fender algum material, bem como para calçar, nivelar, ajustar um peça qualquer

Where the eye mixes concha and cunha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. concha runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against cunha's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
concha
5 ch
cunha

Look-alike desk: concha vs cunha

A purely visual mix-up. concha (/ˈkõ.ʃɐ/) and cunha (/ˈku.ɲɐ/) 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 18286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concha is recorded at frequency rank #15,285, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkõ.ʃɐ/. cunha is at rank #3,001, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈku.ɲɐ/.

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 18286, this pair ranks #52,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concha vs cunha

Shared letters: achn. Private to "concha": o. Private to "cunha": u.

"concha" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "cunha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concha ← cconcha · cnocha · cocnha · concah · conccha · conchha · conhca · conncha
  • cunha ← ccunha · cnuha · cuhna · cunah · cunhha · cunnha · ucnha

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "concha" and "cunha" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkõ.ʃɐ/ versus /ˈku.ɲɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "concha" vs "cunha" - which ranks higher?
"cunha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,001 in our Portuguese list, against #15,285 for "concha". 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 "concha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cunha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concha" and "cunha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs concha". 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 #52,737 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