katovskoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,051
“kato” frequency rank
#14,398
“ko” frequency rank
47449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kato ko
Definition gato nome dos kana こ e コ

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set kato and ko apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
kato
2 ch
ko

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. kato (/'ka.to/) and ko (/ˈko/) 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 47449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kato is recorded at frequency rank #33,051, classified as anoun, pronounced /'ka.to/. ko is at rank #14,398, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈko/.

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 47449, this pair ranks #17,800 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kato vs ko

Shared letters: ko. Private to "kato": at. Private to "ko": -.

"kato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ko" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • katoakto · kaot · katto · kkato · ktao

Frequency comparison

kato#33,051
ko#14,398

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kato" and "ko" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/'ka.to/ versus /ˈko/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kato" or "ko"?
"ko" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,398 in our Portuguese list, against #33,051 for "kato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering kato vs ko

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “kato” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list