cheiovscheiroWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cheio is a adjective, cheiro is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cheio” is an adjective and “cheiro” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,424
“cheio” frequency rank
#2,083
“cheiro” frequency rank
3507
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheio cheiro
Definition completamente preenchido; que contém o máximo que pode conter odor, aroma

Where the eye mixes cheio and cheiro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cheio
6 ch
cheiro

Look-alike desk: cheio vs cheiro

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cheio is /ˈʃɐj.u/ while cheiro is /ˈʃɐj.ɾu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cheio is recorded at frequency rank #1,424, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃɐj.u/. cheiro is at rank #2,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɐj.ɾu/.

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 3507, this pair ranks #71,635 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cheio vs cheiro

Shared letters: cehio. Private to "cheio": -. Private to "cheiro": r.

"cheio" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV  ·  "cheiro" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheioccheio · cehio · cheoi · chheio · chieo · hceio
  • cheiroccheiro · cehiro · cheior · cheirro · cherio · chheiro · chiero · hceiro

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cheio" for "cheiro" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cheio" is an adjective and "cheiro" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cheio" vs "cheiro" - which ranks higher?
"cheio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,424 in our Portuguese list, against #2,083 for "cheiro". 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 "cheio" and "cheiro" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cheio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cheiro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,635 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cheio" and "cheiro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheio 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 #71,635 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