corpsvscortêsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,294
“corps” frequency rank
#27,024
“cortês” frequency rank
45318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corps cortês
Definition corpo; parte material do ser que tem cortesia

Letter map: corps vs cortês

Shared letters muted; letters that set corps and cortês apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
corps
6 ch
cortês

Role in the sentence - corps and cortês

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: corps is anoun and cortêsanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corps is recorded at frequency rank #18,294, 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 45318, this pair ranks #20,087 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corps vs cortês

Shared letters: cors. Private to "corps": p. Private to "cortês": .

"corps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "cortês" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corpsccorps · coprs · corpps · corpss · corrps · corsp · crops · ocrps

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corps" and "cortês" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "corps" is a noun and "cortês" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "corps" or "cortês" show up more?
"corps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,294 in our Portuguese list, against #27,024 for "cortês". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "corps" and "cortês".

  • Full dictionary entry for "corps" 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 #20,087 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corps" 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 #20,087 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