chamarvschuparWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#884
“chamar” frequency rank
#11,602
“chupar” frequency rank
12486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chamar chupar
Definition solicitar a atenção ou a aproximação de alguém ou de algum animal (com palavras ou sinais) sorver, sugar

Where the eye mixes chamar and chupar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chamar and chupar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
chamar
6 ch
chupar

Look-alike desk: chamar vs chupar

A purely visual mix-up. chamar (/ʃɐ.ˈmaɾ/) and chupar (/ʃuˈpaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chamar is recorded at frequency rank #884, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃɐ.ˈmaɾ/. chupar is at rank #11,602, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃuˈpaɾ/.

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 12486, this pair ranks #60,069 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chamar vs chupar

Shared letters: achr. Private to "chamar": m. Private to "chupar": pu.

"chamar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chupar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chamar ← cahmar · cchamar · chaamr · chamarr · chammar · chamra · chhamar · chmaar
  • chupar ← cchupar · chhupar · chpuar · chuapr · chuparr · chuppar · chupra · cuhpar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chamar" and "chupar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ʃɐ.ˈmaɾ/ versus /ʃuˈpaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "chamar" or "chupar" show up more?
"chamar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #884 in our Portuguese list, against #11,602 for "chupar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "chamar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chupar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,069 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chamar" and "chupar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chumbar vs chupar". 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 #60,069 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