constantevscortanteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,312
“constante” frequency rank
#42,854
“cortante” frequency rank
45166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature constante cortante
Definition que não se desloca que corta

Where the eye mixes constante and cortante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
constante
8 ch
cortante

Why the eye confuses constante with cortante

A purely visual mix-up. constante (/kõʃ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/) and cortante (/kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/) 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 45166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

constante is recorded at frequency rank #2,312, classified as anadj, pronounced /kõʃ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/. cortante is at rank #42,854, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/.

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 45166, this pair ranks #20,254 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of constante vs cortante

Shared letters: acenot. Private to "constante": s. Private to "cortante": r.

"constante" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV  ·  "cortante" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • constantecconstante · cnostante · connstante · consatnte · consstante · constanet · constannte · constantte
  • cortanteccortante · coratnte · corrtante · cortanet · cortannte · cortantte · cortatne · cortnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "constante" for "cortante" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kõʃ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/ versus /kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "constante" or "cortante"?
"constante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,312 in our Portuguese list, against #42,854 for "cortante". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "constante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cortante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,254 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "constante" and "cortante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contente vs cortante". 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 #20,254 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