cadêvschaveConfusable pair

Quick tell: cadê is a pronoun, chave is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cadê” is a pronoun and “chave” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,377
“cadê” frequency rank
#1,329
“chave” frequency rank
4706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadê chave
Definition expressão interrogativa usada para perguntar onde algo ou alguém está objeto usado para abrir e fechar uma fechadura, algemas ou cadeado

Letter map: cadê vs chave

Shared letters muted; letters that set cadê and chave apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
cadê
5 ch
chave

Part-of-speech tell for cadê / chave

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cadê is apronoun and chaveanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadê is recorded at frequency rank #3,377, classified as apron. chave is at rank #1,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa.vɨ/.

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 4706, this pair ranks #70,106 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cadê vs chave

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cadê": . Private to "chave": ehv.

"cadê" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "chave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chavecahve · cchave · chaev · chavve · chhave · chvae · hcave

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cadê" for "chave" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cadê" is a pronoun and "chave" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cadê" or "chave" show up more?
"chave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,329 in our Portuguese list, against #3,377 for "cadê". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "cadê" and "chave". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadê" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,106 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadê" and "chave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chau vs chave". 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 #70,106 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list