Which to use
“cera” is a noun and “chega” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,145
- “cera” frequency rank
- #626
- “chega” frequency rank
- 10771
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cera | chega |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | substância que constitui os favos das abelhas | utilizado como expletivo, transmite a ideia de “até mesmo” |
Where the eye mixes cera and chega
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cera runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chega's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cera and chega
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cera is /ˈse.ɾɐ/ while chega is /ˈʃe.ɡɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cera is recorded at frequency rank #10,145, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈse.ɾɐ/. chega is at rank #626, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈʃe.ɡɐ/.
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 10771, this pair ranks #62,250 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cera vs chega
Shared letters: ace. Private to "cera": r. Private to "chega": gh.
"cera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "chega" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cera" and "chega" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cera" or "chega" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,250 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cera" and "chega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cera 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 #62,250 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.