Which to use
“contra” is a preposition and “costura” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #160
- “contra” frequency rank
- #11,842
- “costura” frequency rank
- 12002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contra | costura |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em oposição a | ato ou efeito de coser |
Where the eye mixes contra and costura
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contra runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against costura's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: contra vs costura
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contra is /ˈkõ.tɾɐ/ while costura is /kuʃ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contra is recorded at frequency rank #160, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈkõ.tɾɐ/. costura is at rank #11,842, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuʃ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/.
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 12002, this pair ranks #60,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contra vs costura
Shared letters: acort. Private to "contra": n. Private to "costura": su.
"contra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "costura" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contra" and "costura" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "contra" or "costura" show up more?
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 "contra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contra" and "costura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contra vs contre". 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 #60,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.