cagar vs chegar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,037
“cagar” frequency rank: #390
“chegar” frequency rank: 15427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cagar	chegar
Definition	expelir pelo ânus; defecar	pôr em contato

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cagar and chegar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

cagar

6 ch

chegar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cagar (/kɐ'ɣaɾ/) and chegar (/ʃɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) 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 15427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cagar is recorded at frequency rank #15,037, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐ'ɣaɾ/. chegar is at rank #390, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃɨ.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 15427, this pair ranks #56,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cagar vs chegar

Shared letters: acgr. Private to "cagar": -. Private to "chegar": eh.

"cagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "chegar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

cagar ← acgar · caagr · cagarr · caggar · ccagar · cgaar
chegar ← cchegar · cehgar · cheagr · chegarr · cheggar · chegra · chgear · chhegar

Frequency comparison

cagar#15,037

chegar#390

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cagar" and "chegar" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/kɐ'ɣaɾ/ versus /ʃɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "cagar" or "chegar"?

"chegar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #390 in our Portuguese list, against #15,037 for "cagar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cagar vs chegar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cagar” entry
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