cha
/t͡ʃɑː/
"cha" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cha” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,179 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,179
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tea, (sometimes dialect) specifically masala chai.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cha |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃɑː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #11,179 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cha” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cha is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /t͡ʃɑː/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,179 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Tea, (sometimes dialect) specifically masala chai.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for cha, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "co", "CM", "CT", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Chinese 茶 (chá), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la, via two routes: in some cases from Hindustani चा (cā) / چا (cā) (a variant of the same root, from Persian چا, which led to chai), from Northern Chinese; in other cases from 茶 (chá) /t͡sʰɑː²¹/, the pronunc… The correct English form is cha, spelled C-H-A.
Definition
- 1Tea, (sometimes dialect) specifically masala chai.
Etymology
From Chinese 茶 (chá), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la, via two routes: in some cases from Hindustani चा (cā) / چا (cā) (a variant of the same root, from Persian چا, which led to chai), from Northern Chinese; in other cases from 茶 (chá) /t͡sʰɑː²¹/, the pronunciation found in Canton (Guangzhou), where the British bought much of their tea in the 19th century. Doublet of tea, which is from the Amoy Min Nan pronunciation tê.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cha”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /t͡ʃɑː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “co” - see the side-by-side comparison. cha vs co
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.