chavsChatsTell them apart

Which to use

“cha” and “Chats” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,200
“cha” frequency rank
#18,201
“Chats” frequency rank
36401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cha Chats
Definition Vater Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Chat

Where the eye mixes cha and Chats

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

3 ch
cha
5 ch
Chats

Look-alike desk: cha vs Chats

A purely visual mix-up. cha ([t͡ɕaː˧˧]) and Chats ([t͡ʃɛt͡s]) 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 “Chats”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36401, 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˧˧]. Chats is at rank #18,201, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t͡ʃɛt͡s].

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 36401, this pair ranks #1,616,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cha vs Chats

Shared letters: ach. Private to "cha": -. Private to "Chats": st.

"cha" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "Chats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Chatscahts · cchats · chast · chatss · chatts · chhats · chtas · hcats

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cha" for "Chats" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t͡ɕaː˧˧] versus [t͡ʃɛt͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "cha" or "Chats" show up more?
"cha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,200 in our German list, against #18,201 for "Chats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Chats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,616,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cha" and "Chats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs cha". 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 #1,616,532 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list