corda vs cosa, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“corda” and “cosa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,178
“corda” frequency rank: #31,312
“cosa” frequency rank: 36490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	corda	cosa
Definition	cabo de fios vegetais unidos e torcidos uns sobre os outros	coisa

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set corda and cosa apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

corda

4 ch

cosa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. corda (/ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36490, 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/. 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 36490, this pair ranks #30,311 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corda vs cosa

Shared letters: aco. Private to "corda": dr. Private to "cosa": s.

"corda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cosa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

corda ← ccorda · codra · corad · cordda · corrda · croda · ocrda
cosa ← ccosa · cossa · csoa · ocsa

Frequency comparison

corda#5,178

cosa#31,312

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corda" and "cosa" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈkɔɾ.dɐ/ versus /'kɔ.sa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "corda" or "cosa"?

"corda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,178 in our Portuguese list, against #31,312 for "cosa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering corda vs cosa

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “corda” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable