contatovscontratoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,160
“contato” frequency rank
#1,356
“contrato” frequency rank
2516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contato contrato
Definition o fato de contactar ato ou efeito de contratar

Letter map: contato vs contrato

Shared letters muted; letters that set contato and contrato apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. contato runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against contrato's 8 (CVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
contato
8 ch
contrato

Pair insight - contato / contrato

contato and contrato are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contato is recorded at frequency rank #1,160, classified as anoun. contrato is at rank #1,356, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kõ.ˈtɾa.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 2516, this pair ranks #72,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contato vs contrato

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

"contato" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contrato" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contato ← ccontato · cnotato · conatto · conntato · contaot · contatto · conttao · conttato
  • contrato ← ccontrato · cnotrato · conntrato · conrtato · contarto · contraot · contratto · contrrato

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contato" for "contrato" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "contato" or "contrato"?
"contato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,160 in our Portuguese list, against #1,356 for "contrato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "contato" vs "contrato" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contato" and "contrato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cantata vs contato". 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 #72,852 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