Which to use
“cha” and “chain” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,200
- “cha” frequency rank
- #23,876
- “chain” frequency rank
- 42076
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cha | chain |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vater | Kette, Fessel |
Where the eye mixes cha and chain
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cha vs chain
A purely visual mix-up. cha ([t͡ɕaː˧˧]) and chain ([ˈt͡ʃeɪn]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cha” sits inside “chain”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42076, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cha is recorded at frequency rank #18,200, classified as anoun, pronounced [t͡ɕaː˧˧]. chain is at rank #23,876, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃeɪn].
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 42076, this pair ranks #1,460,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cha vs chain
Shared letters: ach. Private to "cha": -. Private to "chain": in.
"cha" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "chain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chain ← cahin · cchain · chainn · chani · chhain · hcain
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cha" and "chain" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "cha" or "chain" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cha" and "chain" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chain" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,460,261 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cha" and "chain" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chain vs clair". 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 #1,460,261 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.