Which to use
“chá” and “china” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,711
- “chá” frequency rank
- #1,005
- “china” frequency rank
- 3716
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chá | china |
|---|---|---|
| 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) | tipo de prato usado em baterias |
Where the eye mixes chá and china
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chá with china
A purely visual mix-up. chá (/ˈʃa/) and china (/ʃi.na/) 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 3716, 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/. china is at rank #1,005, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃi.na/.
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 3716, this pair ranks #71,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chá vs china
Shared letters: ch. Private to "chá": á. Private to "china": ain.
"chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "china" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- china ← cchina · chhina · chian · chinna · chnia · cihna · hcina
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chá" and "china" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chá" vs "china" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "china" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chá" and "china" 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 #71,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.