xamãvsxaráWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,204
“xamã” frequency rank
#47,147
“xará” frequency rank
78351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature xamã xará
Definition sacerdote tribal de certos povos da Ásia Setentrional, América do Norte etc., que utiliza meios mágicos para curar males e doenças, encontrar objetos perdidos e controlar acontecimentos pessoa com mesmo nome de outrem; homônimo; tocaio

Letter map: xamã vs xará

Shared letters muted; letters that set xamã and xará apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
xamã
4 ch
xará

Pair insight - xamã / xará

xamã and xará are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

xamã is recorded at frequency rank #31,204, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃa.ˈmɐ̃/. xará is at rank #47,147, tagged as anoun.

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 78351, this pair ranks #1,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of xamã vs xará

Shared letters: ax. Private to "xamã": . Private to "xará": .

"xamã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "xará" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "xamã" and "xará" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "xamã" or "xará" show up more?
"xamã" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,204 in our Portuguese list, against #47,147 for "xará". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "xamã" and "xará".

  • Full dictionary entry for "xamã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "xará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "xamã" and "xará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "xará vs xota". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,699 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