chefe
/ˈʃɛ.fɨ/
The verdict
“chefe” is in the everyday core of Portuguese, ranked #752 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #752
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - pessoa que se destaca pelas qualidades de autoridade, competência, poder de decisão etc
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 | chefe |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃɛ.fɨ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #752 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chefe” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for chefe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃɛ.fɨ/. Corpus data places it at rank #752 in overall Portuguese word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for chefe, with forms such as "cchefe", "cehfe", and "cheef". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "cher", "chega", "cheio", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is chefe, spelled C-H-E-F-E.
Definition
- 1pessoa que se destaca pelas qualidades de autoridade, competência, poder de decisão etc
- 2indivíduo que, por essas qualidades, é investido de poder para ocupar um lugar de mando, de direção
- 3aquele que ocupa a mais alta posição hierárquica nos organismos oficiais, civis ou militares
- 4fundador ou representante de uma dinastia, um clã, uma família
- 5pessoa que é, reconhecidamente, a maior autoridade dentro de um grupo social, cultural, religioso etc.
- 6aquele que dirige uma repartição, um serviço e é responsável por seu funcionamento
- 7aquele que dirige, orienta ou conduz qualquer organização política, religiosa etc.; dirigente, líder
- 8pessoa responsável por uma empresa; patrão
- 9aquele que está à frente de um movimento contestatório; cabeça, líder
- 10aquele que, de algum modo, sobressai entre outros
- 11usado como interlocutório pessoal
- 12comandante militar; capitão, cabo-de-guerra
- 13a parte que ocupa o terço superior do escudo
- 14personagem de videojogo que tem um destaque na jogabilidade e no enredo é que é mais difícil de jogar-se contra relativamente quando comparado aos demais
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchefe,cehfe,cheef,cheffe,chfee,chhefe,hcefe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chefe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "chefe"?
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Using “chefe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is C-H-E-F-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃɛ.fɨ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cher” - see the side-by-side comparison. chefe vs cher
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese 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.