cosavscrostaConfusable pair

Which to use

“cosa” and “crosta” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,312
“cosa” frequency rank
#23,280
“crosta” frequency rank
54592
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cosa crosta
Definition coisa parte mais dura formada em volta de algo, geralmente mais mole no interior

Where the eye mixes cosa and crosta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cosa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against crosta's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
cosa
6 ch
crosta

Visual trap between cosa and crosta

A purely visual mix-up. cosa (/'kɔ.sa/) and crosta (/ˈkɾos.tɐ/) 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 54592, 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/. crosta is at rank #23,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾos.tɐ/.

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 54592, this pair ranks #11,155 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cosa vs crosta

Shared letters: acos. Private to "cosa": -. Private to "crosta": rt.

"cosa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "crosta" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cosa ← ccosa · cossa · csoa · ocsa
  • crosta ← ccrosta · corsta · crosat · crossta · crostta · crotsa · crrosta · crsota

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cosa" and "crosta" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/'kɔ.sa/ versus /ˈkɾos.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cosa" or "crosta"?
"crosta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,280 in our Portuguese list, against #31,312 for "cosa". 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 "cosa" and "crosta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crosta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,155 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cosa" and "crosta" 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 #11,155 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