constarvscostaConfusable pair

Quick tell: constar is a verb, costa is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“constar” is a verb and “costa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,409
“constar” frequency rank
#885
“costa” frequency rank
13294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature constar costa
Definition estar escrito, incluído ou mencionado interface entre o mar e a terra

Where the eye mixes constar and costa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
constar
5 ch
costa

Visual trap between constar and costa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: constar is /kõʃ.ˈtaɾ/ while costa is /ˈkɔʃ.tɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

constar is recorded at frequency rank #12,409, classified as averb, pronounced /kõʃ.ˈtaɾ/. costa is at rank #885, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔʃ.tɐ/.

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 13294, this pair ranks #59,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of constar vs costa

Shared letters: acost. Private to "constar": nr. Private to "costa": -.

"constar" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "costa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • constarcconstar · cnostar · connstar · consatr · consstar · constarr · constra · consttar
  • costaccosta · cosat · cossta · costta · cotsa · csota · ocsta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "constar" and "costa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "constar" is a verb and "costa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "constar" vs "costa" - which ranks higher?
"costa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #885 in our Portuguese list, against #12,409 for "constar". 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 "constar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "constar" and "costa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constar vs consumar". 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 #59,104 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