Which to use
“cook” and “cost” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,716
- “cook” frequency rank
- #22,928
- “cost” frequency rank
- 39644
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cook | cost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cozinheiro, coque, cuca, mestre-cuco | custo |
Where the eye mixes cook and cost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cook with cost
A purely visual mix-up. cook (/ˈkʊk/) and cost (/ˈkɔst/) 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 39644, 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/. cost is at rank #22,928, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔst/.
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 39644, this pair ranks #26,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cook vs cost
Shared letters: co. Private to "cook": k. Private to "cost": st.
"cook" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cook" and "cost" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cook" or "cost"?
After this comparison
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 "cost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cook" and "cost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copta vs cost". 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 #26,574 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.