cenavscháWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,139
“cena” frequency rank
#2,711
“chá” frequency rank
3850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cena chá
Definition palco 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 cena and chá

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

4 ch
cena
3 ch
chá

Look-alike desk: cena vs chá

A purely visual mix-up. cena (/ˈse.nɐ/) 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 3850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cena is recorded at frequency rank #1,139, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.nɐ/. 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 3850, this pair ranks #71,239 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cena vs chá

Shared letters: c. Private to "cena": aen. Private to "chá": .

"cena" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cenaccena · cean · cenna · cnea · ecna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cena" and "chá" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈse.nɐ/ versus /ˈʃa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cena" vs "chá" - which ranks higher?
"cena" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,139 in our Portuguese list, against #2,711 for "chá". 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 "cena" 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 #71,239 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cena" and "chá" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chá vs chau". 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 #71,239 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