contavscordaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#223
“conta” frequency rank
#5,178
“corda” frequency rank
5401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conta corda
Definition qualquer operação de aritmética cabo de fios vegetais unidos e torcidos uns sobre os outros

Where the eye mixes conta and corda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
conta
5 ch
corda

Visual trap between conta and corda

A purely visual mix-up. conta (/ˈkõ.tɐ/) and corda (/ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5401, 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/. corda is at rank #5,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/.

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 5401, this pair ranks #69,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of conta vs corda

Shared letters: aco. Private to "conta": nt. Private to "corda": dr.

"conta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "corda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contacconta · cnota · conat · connta · contta · cotna · ocnta
  • cordaccorda · codra · corad · cordda · corrda · croda · ocrda

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "conta" for "corda" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkõ.tɐ/ versus /ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "conta" vs "corda" - which ranks higher?
"conta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #223 in our Portuguese list, against #5,178 for "corda". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "conta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conta" and "corda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerda vs corda". 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 #69,215 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