custovscuteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: custo is a noun, cute is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“custo” is a noun and “cute” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,773
“custo” frequency rank
#34,217
“cute” frequency rank
35990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature custo cute
Definition o quanto algo custa, o preço de algo que tem característica bonita, que agrada, que causa de encantamento

Where the eye mixes custo and cute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
custo
4 ch
cute

Visual trap between custo and cute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: custo is /ˈkuʃ.tu/ while cute is /ˈku.ʧi/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

custo is recorded at frequency rank #1,773, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkuʃ.tu/. cute is at rank #34,217, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈku.ʧi/.

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 35990, this pair ranks #30,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of custo vs cute

Shared letters: ctu. Private to "custo": os. Private to "cute": e.

"custo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • custoccusto · csuto · cusot · cussto · custto · cutso · ucsto
  • cuteccute · ctue · cuet · cutte · ucte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "custo" for "cute" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "custo" is a noun and "cute" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "custo" vs "cute" - which ranks higher?
"custo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,773 in our Portuguese list, against #34,217 for "cute". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "custo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "custo" and "cute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chuto vs cute". 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 #30,931 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