córneavscortêsTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#32,130
“córnea” frequency rank
#27,024
“cortês” frequency rank
59154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature córnea cortês
Definition membrana exterior do olho humano, situada anteriormente à pupila que tem cortesia

Where the eye mixes córnea and cortês

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

6 ch
córnea
6 ch
cortês

Look-alike desk: córnea vs cortês

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: córnea is /ˈkɔɾ.njɐ/ while cortês is /kuɾ.ˈteʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 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 59154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

córnea is recorded at frequency rank #32,130, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔɾ.njɐ/. 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 59154, this pair ranks #8,337 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of córnea vs cortês

Shared letters: cr. Private to "córnea": aenó. Private to "cortês": ostê.

"córnea" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "cortês" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "córnea" and "cortês" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "córnea" is a noun and "cortês" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "córnea" vs "cortês" - which ranks higher?
"cortês" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,024 in our Portuguese list, against #32,130 for "córnea". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "córnea" and "cortês" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "córnea" 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 #8,337 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "córnea" and "cortês" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs córnea". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #8,337 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list