Which to use
“cuco” is an adjective and “cunho” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,486
- “cuco” frequency rank
- #13,257
- “cunho” frequency rank
- 43743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cuco | cunho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que tira partido de algo ou de uma pessoa, que é aproveitado, egoísta | origem, fundo, base ou ligação com |
Where the eye mixes cuco and cunho
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cuco and cunho
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cuco is /'ku.kʊ/ while cunho is /ˈku.ɲu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cuco is recorded at frequency rank #30,486, classified as anadj, pronounced /'ku.kʊ/. cunho is at rank #13,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈku.ɲu/.
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 43743, this pair ranks #21,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cuco vs cunho
Shared letters: cou. Private to "cuco": -. Private to "cunho": hn.
"cuco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cunho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cuco" and "cunho" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cuco" vs "cunho" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cuco" and "cunho" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cuco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cunho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cuco" and "cunho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cúbico vs cuco". 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 #21,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.