chasevschaveConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,327
“chase” frequency rank
#1,329
“chave” frequency rank
11656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chase chave
Definition caçada objeto usado para abrir e fechar uma fechadura, algemas ou cadeado

Where the eye mixes chase and chave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
chase
5 ch
chave

Look-alike desk: chase vs chave

A purely visual mix-up. chase (/tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/) and chave (/ˈʃa.vɨ/) 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 a single letter - s in “chase” becomes v in “chave”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chase is recorded at frequency rank #10,327, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/. chave is at rank #1,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa.vɨ/.

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 11656, this pair ranks #61,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chase vs chave

Shared letters: aceh. Private to "chase": s. Private to "chave": v.

"chase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chasecahse · cchase · chaes · chasse · chhase · chsae · hcase
  • chavecahve · cchave · chaev · chavve · chhave · chvae · hcave

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chase" for "chave" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/tʃeɪs/, SAMPA: /tSeIs/ versus /ˈʃa.vɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "chase" or "chave" show up more?
"chave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,329 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chase" and "chave" 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 #61,151 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