Which to use
“chefe” and “chess” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #752
- “chefe” frequency rank
- #49,866
- “chess” frequency rank
- 50618
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chefe | chess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pessoa que se destaca pelas qualidades de autoridade, competência, poder de decisão etc | xadrez |
Where the eye mixes chefe and chess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chefe and chess
A purely visual mix-up. chefe (/ˈʃɛ.fɨ/) and chess (/ˈtʃɛs/) 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 50618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chefe is recorded at frequency rank #752, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɛ.fɨ/. chess is at rank #49,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʃɛs/.
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 50618, this pair ranks #14,343 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chefe vs chess
Shared letters: ceh. Private to "chefe": f. Private to "chess": s.
"chefe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chess" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chefe" and "chess" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chefe" or "chess"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chefe" and "chess" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chefe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,343 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chefe" and "chess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chassi 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 #14,343 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.