cavernavschávenaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,741
“caverna” frequency rank
#45,750
“chávena” frequency rank
53491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caverna chávena
Definition cavidade subterrânea taça pequena, com asa, onde se servem bebidas quentes, principalmente café e chá

Where the eye mixes caverna and chávena

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
caverna
7 ch
chávena

Why the eye confuses caverna with chávena

A purely visual mix-up. caverna (/kɐ.ˈvɛɾ.nɐ/) and chávena (/ˈʃa.vɨ.nɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caverna is recorded at frequency rank #7,741, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ˈvɛɾ.nɐ/. chávena is at rank #45,750, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa.vɨ.nɐ/.

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 53491, this pair ranks #11,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caverna vs chávena

Shared letters: acenv. Private to "caverna": r. Private to "chávena": .

"caverna" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "chávena" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cavernaacverna · caevrna · cavenra · caveran · cavernna · caverrna · cavrena · cavverna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caverna" and "chávena" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ˈvɛɾ.nɐ/ versus /ˈʃa.vɨ.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caverna" or "chávena"?
"caverna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,741 in our Portuguese list, against #45,750 for "chávena". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caverna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chávena" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caverna" and "chávena" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chacina vs chávena". 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 #11,983 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