chapéuvschaseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,513
“chapéu” frequency rank
#10,327
“chase” frequency rank
16840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chapéu chase
Definition cobertura com copa e aba para a cabeça de homem caçada

Where the eye mixes chapéu and chase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chapéu runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against chase's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
chapéu
5 ch
chase

Why the eye confuses chapéu with chase

A purely visual mix-up. chapéu (/ʃɐ.ˈpɛw/) and chase (/tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chapéu is recorded at frequency rank #6,513, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɐ.ˈpɛw/. chase is at rank #10,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/.

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 16840, this pair ranks #54,603 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chapéu vs chase

Shared letters: ach. Private to "chapéu": pué. Private to "chase": es.

"chapéu" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "chase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chase ← cahse · cchase · chaes · chasse · chhase · chsae · hcase

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chapéu" and "chase" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ʃɐ.ˈpɛw/ versus /tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chapéu" or "chase"?
"chapéu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,513 in our Portuguese list, against #10,327 for "chase". 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 "chapéu" and "chase" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chapéu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,603 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chapéu" and "chase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chase vs chess". 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 #54,603 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