contarvscontatoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contar is a verb, contato is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contar” is a verb and “contato” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#740
“contar” frequency rank
#1,160
“contato” frequency rank
1900
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contar contato
Definition enumerar os elementos de uma série o fato de contactar

Letter map: contar vs contato

Shared letters muted; letters that set contar and contato apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
contar
7 ch
contato

Grammar separator: contar vs contato

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: contar is averb and contatoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contar is recorded at frequency rank #740, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.ˈtaɾ/. contato is at rank #1,160, tagged as anoun.

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 1900, this pair ranks #73,621 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contar vs contato

Shared letters: acnot. Private to "contar": r. Private to "contato": -.

"contar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "contato" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contarccontar · cnotar · conatr · conntar · contarr · conttar · cotnar · ocntar
  • contatoccontato · cnotato · conatto · conntato · contaot · contatto · conttao · conttato

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contar" and "contato" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contar" is a verb and "contato" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contar" or "contato"?
"contar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #740 in our Portuguese list, against #1,160 for "contato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "contar" and "contato".

  • Full dictionary entry for "contar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,621 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contar" and "contato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clonar vs contar". 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 #73,621 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