Which to use
“cham” and “chama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,752
- “cham” frequency rank
- #781
- “chama” frequency rank
- 45533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cham | chama |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | um certo tipo de autocrata | labareda que se eleva dos materiais incandescentes, flama |
Where the eye mixes cham and chama
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cham and chama
A purely visual mix-up. cham (/kæm/) and chama (/ˈʃɐ.mɐ/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “cham” sits inside “chama”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cham is recorded at frequency rank #44,752, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæm/. chama is at rank #781, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɐ.mɐ/.
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 45533, this pair ranks #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cham vs chama
Shared letters: achm. Private to "cham": -. Private to "chama": -.
"cham" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "chama" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cham" for "chama" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cham" vs "chama" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cham" and "chama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cham 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 #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.