coresvscortêsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cores is a noun, cortês is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cores” is a noun and “cortês” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,088
“cores” frequency rank
#27,024
“cortês” frequency rank
29112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cores cortês
Definition maneira como realmente se é em relação as íntimas intenções ou ao comportamento espontâneo e natural quanto àquilo que é exteriorado pela atitude ao olhar alheio que tem cortesia

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cores and cortês apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cores
6 ch
cortês

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cores is anoun and cortêsanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cores is recorded at frequency rank #2,088, classified as anoun. 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 29112, this pair ranks #39,593 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cores vs cortês

Shared letters: cors. Private to "cores": e. Private to "cortês": .

"cores" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cortês" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coresccores · coers · coress · corres · corse · croes · ocres

Frequency comparison

cores#2,088
cortês#27,024

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cores" and "cortês" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cores" is a noun and "cortês" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cores" or "cortês"?
"cores" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,088 in our Portuguese list, against #27,024 for "cortês". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cores vs cortês

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cores”; for an adjective, it's “cortês”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cores” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list