Which to use
“costela” and “costura” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,721
- “costela” frequency rank
- #11,842
- “costura” frequency rank
- 28563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | costela | costura |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ossos longos e achatados que ligam a coluna dorsal ao esterno, formando a caixa torácica | ato ou efeito de coser |
Where the eye mixes costela and costura
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. costela and costura follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between costela and costura
A purely visual mix-up. costela (/kuʃ.ˈtɛ.lɐ/) and costura (/kuʃ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
costela is recorded at frequency rank #16,721, classified as anoun, pronounced /kuʃ.ˈtɛ.lɐ/. costura is at rank #11,842, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kuʃ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/.
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 28563, this pair ranks #40,256 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of costela vs costura
Shared letters: acost. Private to "costela": el. Private to "costura": ru.
"costela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "costura" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "costela" and "costura" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "costela" or "costura"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "costela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,256 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "costela" and "costura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "castelão vs costela". 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 #40,256 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.