Which to use
“cave” and “chave” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,725
- “cave” frequency rank
- #1,329
- “chave” frequency rank
- 19054
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cave | chave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pavimento de uma casa abaixo do leito da rua | objeto usado para abrir e fechar uma fechadura, algemas ou cadeado |
Where the eye mixes cave and chave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cave with chave
A purely visual mix-up. cave (/ˈka.vɨ/) and chave (/ˈʃa.vɨ/) 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 19054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cave is recorded at frequency rank #17,725, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.vɨ/. chave is at rank #1,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa.vɨ/.
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 19054, this pair ranks #51,797 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cave vs chave
Shared letters: acev. Private to "cave": -. Private to "chave": h.
"cave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "chave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cave" and "chave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cave" vs "chave" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cave" and "chave" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,797 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cave" and "chave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cárie vs cave". 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 #51,797 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.