chainvschampConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,876
“chain” frequency rank
#25,085
“champ” frequency rank
48961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chain champ
Definition Kette, Fessel champion

Where the eye mixes chain and champ

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

5 ch
chain
5 ch
champ

Why the eye confuses chain with champ

A purely visual mix-up. chain ([ˈt͡ʃeɪn]) and champ ([t͡ʃæmp]) 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 48961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chain is recorded at frequency rank #23,876, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃeɪn]. champ is at rank #25,085, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t͡ʃæmp].

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 48961, this pair ranks #1,229,145 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chain vs champ

Shared letters: ach. Private to "chain": in. Private to "champ": mp.

"chain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "champ" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaincahin · cchain · chainn · chani · chhain · hcain
  • champcahmp · cchamp · chammp · champp · chapm · chhamp · chmap · hcamp

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chain" for "champ" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡ʃeɪn] versus [t͡ʃæmp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "chain" or "champ" show up more?
"chain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,876 in our German list, against #25,085 for "champ". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "champ" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,229,145 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chain" and "champ" 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 #1,229,145 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