carmavscharmeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,094
“carma” frequency rank
#8,165
“charme” frequency rank
40259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carma charme
Definition segundo o hinduísmo e o budismo, a lei de causa e efeito, na qual todas as ações, boas ou más, de uma pessoa geram reações correspondentes nesta vida ou em encarnações futuras charme ¹

Where the eye mixes carma and charme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
carma
6 ch
charme

Why the eye confuses carma with charme

A purely visual mix-up. carma (/ˈkɐɾmɐ/) and charme (/ʃaʁm/) 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 40259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carma is recorded at frequency rank #32,094, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐɾmɐ/. charme is at rank #8,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃaʁm/.

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 40259, this pair ranks #25,892 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carma vs charme

Shared letters: acmr. Private to "carma": -. Private to "charme": eh.

"carma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "charme" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carmaacrma · camra · caram · carmma · carrma · ccarma · crama
  • charmecahrme · ccharme · chamre · charem · charmme · charrme · chharme · chrame

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "carma" and "charme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɐɾmɐ/ versus /ʃaʁm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "carma" or "charme"?
"charme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,165 in our Portuguese list, against #32,094 for "carma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "carma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "charme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,892 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carma" and "charme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carma vs cerda". 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 #25,892 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