contavscovaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#223
“conta” frequency rank
#10,164
“cova” frequency rank
10387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conta cova
Definition qualquer operação de aritmética abertura na terra

Where the eye mixes conta and cova

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

5 ch
conta
4 ch
cova

Why the eye confuses conta with cova

A purely visual mix-up. conta (/ˈkõ.tɐ/) and cova (/ˈkɔ.vɐ/) 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 10387, 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/. cova is at rank #10,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔ.vɐ/.

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 10387, this pair ranks #62,734 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of conta vs cova

Shared letters: aco. Private to "conta": nt. Private to "cova": v.

"conta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cova" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contacconta · cnota · conat · connta · contta · cotna · ocnta
  • covaccova · coav · covva · cvoa · ocva

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "conta" and "cova" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkõ.tɐ/ versus /ˈkɔ.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "conta" or "cova" show up more?
"conta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #223 in our Portuguese list, against #10,164 for "cova". 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 "conta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cova" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,734 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conta" and "cova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs cova". 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 #62,734 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