contentevscortanteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,614
“contente” frequency rank
#42,854
“cortante” frequency rank
48468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contente cortante
Definition satisfeito que corta

Where the eye mixes contente and cortante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
contente
8 ch
cortante

Why the eye confuses contente with cortante

A purely visual mix-up. contente (/kõ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/) and cortante (/kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/) 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 48468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contente is recorded at frequency rank #5,614, classified as anadj, pronounced /kõ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/. cortante is at rank #42,854, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/.

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 48468, this pair ranks #16,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contente vs cortante

Shared letters: cenot. Private to "contente": -. Private to "cortante": ar.

"contente" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "cortante" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenteccontente · cnotente · conetnte · conntente · contenet · contennte · contentte · contetne
  • cortanteccortante · coratnte · corrtante · cortanet · cortannte · cortantte · cortatne · cortnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contente" and "cortante" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/ versus /kuɾ.ˈtɐ̃.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contente" or "cortante"?
"contente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,614 in our Portuguese list, against #42,854 for "cortante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cortante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contente" and "cortante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenda vs contente". 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 #16,690 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