contactarvscontentarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,837
“contactar” frequency rank
#19,385
“contentar” frequency rank
31222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contactar contentar
Definition ter contato: tornar contente

Where the eye mixes contactar and contentar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contactar and contentar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
contactar
9 ch
contentar

Look-alike desk: contactar vs contentar

A purely visual mix-up. contactar (/kõ.tɐˈk.taɾ/) and contentar (/kõ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 31222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contactar is recorded at frequency rank #11,837, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.tɐˈk.taɾ/. contentar is at rank #19,385, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 31222, this pair ranks #36,932 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contactar vs contentar

Shared letters: acnort. Private to "contactar": -. Private to "contentar": e.

"contactar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "contentar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contactar ← ccontactar · cnotactar · conatctar · conntactar · contacatr · contacctar · contactarr · contactra
  • contentar ← ccontentar · cnotentar · conetntar · conntentar · contenatr · contenntar · contentarr · contentra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contactar" and "contentar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.tɐˈk.taɾ/ versus /kõ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "contactar" or "contentar" show up more?
"contactar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,837 in our Portuguese list, against #19,385 for "contentar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "contactar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contentar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,932 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contactar" and "contentar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concertar vs contentar". 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 #36,932 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