chave vs cravo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,329
“chave” frequency rank: #18,554
“cravo” frequency rank: 19883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	chave	cravo
Definition	objeto usado para abrir e fechar uma fechadura, algemas ou cadeado	a planta craveiro; a flor do craveiro

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chave and cravo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

chave

5 ch

cravo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chave (/ˈʃa.vɨ/) and cravo (/ˈkɾa.vu/) 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 19883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chave is recorded at frequency rank #1,329, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃa.vɨ/. cravo is at rank #18,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾa.vu/.

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 19883, this pair ranks #50,751 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chave vs cravo

Shared letters: acv. Private to "chave": eh. Private to "cravo": or.

"chave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "cravo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

chave ← cahve · cchave · chaev · chavve · chhave · chvae · hcave
cravo ← carvo · ccravo · craov · cravvo · crravo · crvao · rcavo

Frequency comparison

chave#1,329

cravo#18,554

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chave" and "cravo" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈʃa.vɨ/ versus /ˈkɾa.vu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "chave" or "cravo"?

"chave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,329 in our Portuguese list, against #18,554 for "cravo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering chave vs cravo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chave” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable