chávscunhaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,711
“chá” frequency rank
#3,001
“cunha” frequency rank
5712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chá cunha
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) peça de metal ou madeira dura, em forma de prisma agudo em um dos lados, e que se insere no vértice de um corte para melhor fender algum material, bem como para calçar, nivelar, ajustar um peça qualquer

Where the eye mixes chá and cunha

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

3 ch
chá
5 ch
cunha

Visual trap between chá and cunha

A purely visual mix-up. chá (/ˈʃa/) and cunha (/ˈku.ɲɐ/) 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 5712, 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/. cunha is at rank #3,001, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈku.ɲɐ/.

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 5712, this pair ranks #68,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chá vs cunha

Shared letters: ch. Private to "chá": á. Private to "cunha": anu.

"chá" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "cunha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cunhaccunha · cnuha · cuhna · cunah · cunhha · cunnha · ucnha

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chá" and "cunha" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃa/ versus /ˈku.ɲɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chá" or "cunha"?
"chá" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,711 in our Portuguese list, against #3,001 for "cunha". 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 "cunha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chá" and "cunha" 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 #68,851 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