costasvscrostaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,739
“costas” frequency rank
#23,280
“crosta” frequency rank
25019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature costas crosta
Definition lado posterior do tórax humano parte mais dura formada em volta de algo, geralmente mais mole no interior

Where the eye mixes costas and crosta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. costas (CVCCVC) and crosta (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
costas
6 ch
crosta

Look-alike desk: costas vs crosta

A purely visual mix-up. costas (/ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

costas is recorded at frequency rank #1,739, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/. 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 25019, this pair ranks #44,394 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of costas vs crosta

Shared letters: acost. Private to "costas": -. Private to "crosta": r.

"costas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "crosta" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • costas ← ccostas · cosats · cosstas · costass · costsa · costtas · cotsas · csotas
  • crosta ← ccrosta · corsta · crosat · crossta · crostta · crotsa · crrosta · crsota

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "costas" and "crosta" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɔʃtɜʃ/ versus /ˈkɾos.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "costas" or "crosta"?
"costas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,739 in our Portuguese list, against #23,280 for "crosta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "costas" 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 #44,394 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "costas" and "crosta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copta vs crosta". 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 #44,394 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