chávschuvaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,711
“chá” frequency rank
#1,563
“chuva” frequency rank
4274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chá chuva
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) fenômeno recorrente em que ocorre precipitação de água em estado líquido em volume maior ou igual a gotas

Where the eye mixes chá and chuva

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

3 ch
chá
5 ch
chuva

Why the eye confuses chá with chuva

A purely visual mix-up. chá (/ˈʃa/) and chuva (/'ʃu.vɐ/) 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 4274, 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/. chuva is at rank #1,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'ʃu.vɐ/.

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 4274, this pair ranks #70,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chá vs chuva

Shared letters: ch. Private to "chá": á. Private to "chuva": auv.

"chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "chuva" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chuvacchuva · chhuva · chuav · chuvva · chvua · cuhva · hcuva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chá" for "chuva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃa/ versus /'ʃu.vɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "chá" or "chuva" show up more?
"chuva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,563 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

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 "chuva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chá" and "chuva" 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 #70,680 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