Which to use
“chegar” and “cheirar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #390
- “chegar” frequency rank
- #14,536
- “cheirar” frequency rank
- 14926
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chegar | cheirar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pôr em contato | aspirar o cheiro de; farejar; pesquisar; revelar |
Where the eye mixes chegar and cheirar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chegar vs cheirar
A purely visual mix-up. chegar (/ʃɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and cheirar (/ʃɐj.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 14926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chegar is recorded at frequency rank #390, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃɨ.ˈɡaɾ/. cheirar is at rank #14,536, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃɐj.ˈɾaɾ/.
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 14926, this pair ranks #57,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chegar vs cheirar
Shared letters: acehr. Private to "chegar": g. Private to "cheirar": i.
"chegar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "cheirar" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chegar" for "cheirar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chegar" or "cheirar"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chegar" and "cheirar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cheirar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chegar" and "cheirar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chefiar vs cheirar". 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 #57,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.