chapadovschegadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,813
“chapado” frequency rank
#4,379
“chegado” frequency rank
25192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chapado chegado
Definition guarnecido com chapa; chapeado próximo

Where the eye mixes chapado and chegado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chapado and chegado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
chapado
7 ch
chegado

Why the eye confuses chapado with chegado

A purely visual mix-up. chapado (/ʃɐ.ˈpa.du/) and chegado (/ʃɨ.ˈɡa.du/) 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 25192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chapado is recorded at frequency rank #20,813, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃɐ.ˈpa.du/. chegado is at rank #4,379, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɨ.ˈɡa.du/.

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 25192, this pair ranks #44,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chapado vs chegado

Shared letters: acdho. Private to "chapado": p. Private to "chegado": eg.

"chapado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "chegado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chapado ← cahpado · cchapado · chaapdo · chapaddo · chapaod · chapdao · chappado · chhapado
  • chegado ← cchegado · cehgado · cheagdo · chegaddo · chegaod · chegdao · cheggado · chgeado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chapado" and "chegado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ʃɐ.ˈpa.du/ versus /ʃɨ.ˈɡa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chapado" vs "chegado" - which ranks higher?
"chegado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,379 in our Portuguese list, against #20,813 for "chapado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "chapado" and "chegado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chapado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chegado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chapado" and "chegado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caçado vs chapado". 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 #44,178 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