Which to use
“cordel” is a noun and “cortês” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,668
- “cordel” frequency rank
- #27,024
- “cortês” frequency rank
- 46692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cordel | cortês |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | corda bastante fina e flexível; barbante, cordão, guita | que tem cortesia |
Where the eye mixes cordel and cortês
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cordel with cortês
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cordel is /kuɾ.ˈdɛɫ/ while cortês is /kuɾ.ˈteʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cordel is recorded at frequency rank #19,668, classified as anoun, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈdɛɫ/. cortês is at rank #27,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kuɾ.ˈteʃ/.
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 46692, this pair ranks #18,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cordel vs cortês
Shared letters: cor. Private to "cordel": del. Private to "cortês": stê.
"cordel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cortês" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cordel ← ccordel · codrel · corddel · cordell · cordle · coredl · corrdel · crodel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cordel" and "cortês" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cordel" or "cortês"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cordel" and "cortês" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cordel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cortês" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cordel" and "cortês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ceres vs cortês". 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 #18,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.