chávscheiaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,711
“chá” frequency rank
#1,770
“cheia” frequency rank
4481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes chá and cheia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
chá
5 ch
cheia

Look-alike desk: chá vs cheia

A purely visual mix-up. chá (/ˈʃa/) and cheia (/ˈʃɐj.ɐ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chá is recorded at frequency rank #2,711, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa/. cheia is at rank #1,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɐj.ɐ/.

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 4481, this pair ranks #70,401 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chá vs cheia

Shared letters: ch. Private to "chá": á. Private to "cheia": aei.

"chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "cheia" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheiaccheia · cehia · cheai · chheia · chiea · hceia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chá" for "cheia" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃa/ versus /ˈʃɐj.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chá" vs "cheia" - which ranks higher?
"cheia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,770 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cheia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,401 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chá" and "cheia" 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 #70,401 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