contavscontactWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#223
“conta” frequency rank
#19,663
“contact” frequency rank
19886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conta contact
Definition qualquer operação de aritmética contato; contacto

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set conta and contact apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
conta
7 ch
contact

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. conta (/ˈkõ.tɐ/) and contact (/kɔ̃takt/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “conta” sits inside “contact”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conta is recorded at frequency rank #223, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkõ.tɐ/. contact is at rank #19,663, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔ̃takt/.

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 19886, this pair ranks #50,749 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of conta vs contact

Shared letters: acnot. Private to "conta": -. Private to "contact": -.

"conta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "contact" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contacconta · cnota · conat · connta · contta · cotna · ocnta
  • contactccontact · cnotact · conatct · conntact · contacct · contactt · contatc · contcat

Frequency comparison

conta#223
contact#19,663

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "conta" and "contact" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkõ.tɐ/ versus /kɔ̃takt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "conta" or "contact"?
"conta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #223 in our Portuguese list, against #19,663 for "contact". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering conta vs contact

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “conta” 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