cadeiravschaleiraTell them apart

Which to use

“cadeira” and “chaleira” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,820
“cadeira” frequency rank
#40,039
“chaleira” frequency rank
42859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cadeira chaleira
Definition objeto do mobiliário sobre o qual se assenta, normalmente composta por quatro pés, um assento e um encosto vaso metálico ou cerâmico, por vezes elétrico, onde se aquece ou ferve água

Where the eye mixes cadeira and chaleira

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cadeira runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against chaleira's 8 (CCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cadeira
8 ch
chaleira

Visual trap between cadeira and chaleira

A purely visual mix-up. cadeira (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/) and chaleira (/ʃɐ.ˈlɐj.ɾɐ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cadeira is recorded at frequency rank #2,820, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/. chaleira is at rank #40,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃɐ.ˈlɐj.ɾɐ/.

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 42859, this pair ranks #22,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cadeira vs chaleira

Shared letters: aceir. Private to "cadeira": d. Private to "chaleira": hl.

"cadeira" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "chaleira" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadeira ← acdeira · caddeira · cadeiar · cadeirra · caderia · cadiera · caedira · ccadeira
  • chaleira ← cahleira · cchaleira · chaelira · chaleiar · chaleirra · chaleria · chaliera · challeira

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cadeira" and "chaleira" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/ versus /ʃɐ.ˈlɐj.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cadeira" vs "chaleira" - which ranks higher?
"cadeira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,820 in our Portuguese list, against #40,039 for "chaleira". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cadeira" and "chaleira" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cadeira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaleira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cadeira" and "chaleira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaleira vs clareira". 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 #22,853 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