catavschitaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#31,681
“cata” frequency rank
#33,329
“chita” frequency rank
65010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cata chita
Definition busca tecido de algodão de pouco valor, ralo e geralmente estampado com cores vivas

Where the eye mixes cata and chita

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cata runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chita's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
cata
5 ch
chita

Why the eye confuses cata with chita

A purely visual mix-up. cata (/ˈka.tɐ/) and chita (/ˈʃi.tɐ/) 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 65010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cata is recorded at frequency rank #31,681, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.tɐ/. chita is at rank #33,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃi.tɐ/.

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 65010, this pair ranks #5,555 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cata vs chita

Shared letters: act. Private to "cata": -. Private to "chita": hi.

"cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "chita" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cata ← acta · caat · catta · ccata · ctaa
  • chita ← cchita · chhita · chiat · chitta · chtia · cihta · hcita

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cata" for "chita" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.tɐ/ versus /ˈʃi.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cata" or "chita"?
"cata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,681 in our Portuguese list, against #33,329 for "chita". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chita" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,555 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cata" and "chita" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chita vs copta". 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 #5,555 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