Which to use
“corda” and “cordão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,178
- “corda” frequency rank
- #11,038
- “cordão” frequency rank
- 16216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | corda | cordão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cabo de fios vegetais unidos e torcidos uns sobre os outros | corda fina e flexível |
Where the eye mixes corda and cordão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: corda vs cordão
A purely visual mix-up. corda (/ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/) and cordão (/kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
corda is recorded at frequency rank #5,178, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/. cordão is at rank #11,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/.
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 16216, this pair ranks #55,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of corda vs cordão
Shared letters: cdor. Private to "corda": a. Private to "cordão": ã.
"corda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cordão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- corda ← ccorda · codra · corad · cordda · corrda · croda · ocrda
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "corda" and "cordão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "corda" or "cordão" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "corda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cordão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "corda" and "cordão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerda vs cordão". 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 #55,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.