Which to use
“cego” is an adjective and “chegou” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,606
- “cego” frequency rank
- #459
- “chegou” frequency rank
- 6065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cego | chegou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que não vê; desprovido de visão | terceira pessoa do pretérito perfeito do indicativo de chegar. |
Where the eye mixes cego and chegou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cego runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chegou's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cego vs chegou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cego is /ˈsɛ.gu/ while chegou is [ʃe.ˈgow] ou [ʃe.ˈgoː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cego is recorded at frequency rank #5,606, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɛ.gu/. chegou is at rank #459, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃe.ˈgow] ou [ʃe.ˈgoː].
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 6065, this pair ranks #68,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cego vs chegou
Shared letters: cego. Private to "cego": -. Private to "chegou": hu.
"cego" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "chegou" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cego" for "chegou" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cego" or "chegou" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cego" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chegou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cego" and "chegou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cego vs ciao". 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 #68,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.