capvschamWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,259
“cap” frequency rank
#44,752
“cham” frequency rank
52011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cap cham
Definition bode ou carneiro, especialmente velho ou castrado um certo tipo de autocrata

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cap and cham apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
cap
4 ch
cham

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cap (/t͡sap/) and cham (/kæm/) 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 52011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cap is recorded at frequency rank #7,259, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡sap/. cham is at rank #44,752, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kæm/.

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 52011, this pair ranks #13,114 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cap vs cham

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cap": p. Private to "cham": hm.

"cap" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "cham" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chamcahm · ccham · chamm · chham · chma · hcam

Frequency comparison

cap#7,259
cham#44,752

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cap" and "cham" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡sap/ versus /kæm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cap" or "cham"?
"cap" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,259 in our Portuguese list, against #44,752 for "cham". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cap vs cham

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 “cap” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list