Which to use
“conter” is a verb and “cortês” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,457
- “conter” frequency rank
- #27,024
- “cortês” frequency rank
- 31481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conter | cortês |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | encerrar | que tem cortesia |
Where the eye mixes conter and cortês
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: conter vs cortês
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conter is /kõ.ˈteɾ/ while cortês is /kuɾ.ˈteʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conter is recorded at frequency rank #4,457, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.ˈteɾ/. cortês is at rank #27,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈteʃ/.
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 31481, this pair ranks #36,578 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of conter vs cortês
Shared letters: cort. Private to "conter": en. Private to "cortês": sê.
"conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cortês" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- conter ← cconter · cnoter · conetr · connter · conterr · contter · cotner · ocnter
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "conter" and "cortês" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "conter" or "cortês" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "conter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cortês" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,578 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conter" and "cortês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ceres vs cortês". 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 #36,578 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.