Which to use
“conta” and “costas” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #223
- “conta” frequency rank
- #1,739
- “costas” frequency rank
- 1962
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conta | costas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | qualquer operação de aritmética | lado posterior do tórax humano |
Where the eye mixes conta and costas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: conta vs costas
A purely visual mix-up. conta (/ˈkõ.tɐ/) and costas (/ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/) 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 1962, 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/. costas is at rank #1,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/.
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 1962, this pair ranks #73,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of conta vs costas
Shared letters: acot. Private to "conta": n. Private to "costas": s.
"conta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "costas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "conta" for "costas" ever safe?
Frequency check: "conta" vs "costas" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "conta" and "costas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "conta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conta" and "costas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copta vs costas". 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 #73,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.