Which to use
“cha” and “char” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,200
- “cha” frequency rank
- #31,983
- “char” frequency rank
- 50183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cha | char |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vater | Fuder, Fuhre, Karren, Wagen, Fuhrwerk, Förderwagen, Hund, Hunt, Laufkatze |
Where the eye mixes cha and char
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cha with char
A purely visual mix-up. cha ([t͡ɕaː˧˧]) and char ([ʃaʁ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “cha” sits inside “char”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cha is recorded at frequency rank #18,200, classified as anoun, pronounced [t͡ɕaː˧˧]. char is at rank #31,983, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃaʁ].
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 50183, this pair ranks #1,183,464 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cha vs char
Shared letters: ach. Private to "cha": -. Private to "char": r.
"cha" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "char" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- char ← cahr · cchar · charr · chhar · chra · hcar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cha" for "char" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cha" or "char"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cha" and "char" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "char" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,183,464 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cha" and "char" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carr vs char". 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 #1,183,464 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.