contactovscontentoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,803
“contacto” frequency rank
#33,759
“contento” frequency rank
38562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contacto contento
Definition o fato de contactar contentamento

Where the eye mixes contacto and contento

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. contacto and contento follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
contacto
8 ch
contento

Look-alike desk: contacto vs contento

A purely visual mix-up. contacto (/kõ.ˈtak.tu/) and contento (/kõ.ˈtẽ.tu/) 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 38562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contacto is recorded at frequency rank #4,803, classified as anoun, pronounced /kõ.ˈtak.tu/. contento is at rank #33,759, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kõ.ˈtẽ.tu/.

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 38562, this pair ranks #27,860 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contacto vs contento

Shared letters: cnot. Private to "contacto": a. Private to "contento": e.

"contacto" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "contento" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contacto ← ccontacto · cnotacto · conatcto · conntacto · contaccto · contacot · contactto · contatco
  • contento ← ccontento · cnotento · conetnto · conntento · contennto · contenot · contentto · contetno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contacto" for "contento" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.ˈtak.tu/ versus /kõ.ˈtẽ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contacto" or "contento"?
"contacto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,803 in our Portuguese list, against #33,759 for "contento". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "contacto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contento" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,860 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contacto" and "contento" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenda vs contento". 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 #27,860 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