Which to use
“cook” and “cosa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,716
- “cook” frequency rank
- #31,312
- “cosa” frequency rank
- 48028
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cook | cosa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cozinheiro, coque, cuca, mestre-cuco | coisa |
Where the eye mixes cook and cosa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cook with cosa
A purely visual mix-up. cook (/ˈkʊk/) and cosa (/'kɔ.sa/) 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 48028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cook is recorded at frequency rank #16,716, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊk/. cosa is at rank #31,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'kɔ.sa/.
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 48028, this pair ranks #17,191 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cook vs cosa
Shared letters: co. Private to "cook": k. Private to "cosa": as.
"cook" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cosa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cook" for "cosa" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cook" vs "cosa" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cook" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cosa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,191 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cook" and "cosa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs cosa". 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 #17,191 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.