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Which to use

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

#2,468
“Chile” frequency rank
#886
“crime” frequency rank
3354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Chile crime
Definition Chile conduta descrita na legislação penal como sendo proibida, por meio de um tipo penal

Where the eye mixes Chile and crime

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

5 ch
Chile
5 ch
crime

Look-alike desk: Chile vs crime

A purely visual mix-up. Chile (/ˈ͜t͡ʃiːle, ˈçiːle/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and crime (/ˈkɾi.mɨ/) 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 3354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Chile is recorded at frequency rank #2,468, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈ͜t͡ʃiːle, ˈçiːle/ ouvir^(fonte ?). crime is at rank #886, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾi.mɨ/.

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 3354, this pair ranks #71,816 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Chile vs crime

Shared letters: cei. Private to "Chile": hl. Private to "crime": mr.

"Chile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "crime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Chilecchile · chhile · chiel · chille · chlie · cihle · hcile
  • crimeccrime · cirme · criem · crimme · crmie · crrime · rcime

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Chile" for "crime" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈ͜t͡ʃiːle, ˈçiːle/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /ˈkɾi.mɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Chile" vs "crime" - which ranks higher?
"crime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #886 in our Portuguese list, against #2,468 for "Chile". 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 "Chile" and "crime" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Chile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,816 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Chile" and "crime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chile vs coice". 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 #71,816 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