cheiovscherTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,424
“cheio” frequency rank
#22,560
“cher” frequency rank
23984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheio cher
Definition completamente preenchido; que contém o máximo que pode conter querido, adorado:

Where the eye mixes cheio and cher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cheio
4 ch
cher

Look-alike desk: cheio vs cher

A purely visual mix-up. cheio (/ˈʃɐj.u/) and cher (/ʃɛʁ/) 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 23984, 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/. cher is at rank #22,560, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɛʁ/.

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 23984, this pair ranks #45,739 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cheio vs cher

Shared letters: ceh. Private to "cheio": io. Private to "cher": r.

"cheio" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV  ·  "cher" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheioccheio · cehio · cheoi · chheio · chieo · hceio
  • cherccher · cehr · cherr · chher · chre · hcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cheio" and "cher" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃɐj.u/ versus /ʃɛʁ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cheio" vs "cher" - which ranks higher?
"cheio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,424 in our Portuguese list, against #22,560 for "cher". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cheio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,739 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cheio" and "cher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cher 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 #45,739 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