Which to use
“cosa” and “costas” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,312
- “cosa” frequency rank
- #1,739
- “costas” frequency rank
- 33051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cosa | costas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | coisa | lado posterior do tórax humano |
Where the eye mixes cosa and costas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cosa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against costas's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cosa vs costas
A purely visual mix-up. cosa (/'kɔ.sa/) and costas (/ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cosa is recorded at frequency rank #31,312, classified as anoun, pronounced /'kɔ.sa/. costas is at rank #1,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/.
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 33051, this pair ranks #34,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cosa vs costas
Shared letters: acos. Private to "cosa": -. Private to "costas": t.
"cosa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "costas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cosa" and "costas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cosa" or "costas"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cosa" and "costas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conca vs cosa". 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 #34,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.