ceiavscháWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,796
“ceia” frequency rank
#2,711
“chá” frequency rank
17507
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ceia chá
Definition a última refeição do dia planta da família das Teáceas, originária do Extremo Oriente, cultivada por causa de suas folhas que contêm um alcalóide, a teína (cafeína do chá)

Where the eye mixes ceia and chá

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
ceia
3 ch
chá

Why the eye confuses ceia with chá

A purely visual mix-up. ceia (/ˈsɐj.ɐ/) and chá (/ˈʃa/) 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 17507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ceia is recorded at frequency rank #14,796, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɐj.ɐ/. chá is at rank #2,711, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa/.

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 17507, this pair ranks #53,725 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ceia vs chá

Shared letters: c. Private to "ceia": aei. Private to "chá": .

"ceia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceiacceia · ceai · ciea · ecia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ceia" for "chá" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsɐj.ɐ/ versus /ˈʃa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ceia" vs "chá" - which ranks higher?
"chá" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,711 in our Portuguese list, against #14,796 for "ceia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ceia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chá" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,725 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ceia" and "chá" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceia 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 #53,725 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