English homophones
cha/char
"cha" is a noun; "char" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "cha" arrives as a noun, while "char" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "cha" then splits - "cha" (3 letters) vs "char" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across cha, char: ach. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
cha
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCV
Inventory ach · no private letters vs siblings
char
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVC
Inventory achr · private r
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "cha" when you mean: Tea, (sometimes dialect) specifically masala chai.
- Write "char" when you mean: To burn something to charcoal; to be burnt to charcoal.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- char ← cahr · cchar · charr · chhar · chra · hcar
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (cha, char). Here's where to go from here.
- "cha" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #11,179 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Carlton · Carleton. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.