ChatsvsClansWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,201
“Chats” frequency rank
#12,887
“Clans” frequency rank
31088
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Chats Clans
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Chat Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Clan

Where the eye mixes Chats and Clans

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

5 ch
Chats
5 ch
Clans

Visual trap between Chats and Clans

A purely visual mix-up. Chats ([t͡ʃɛt͡s]) and Clans ([klaːns]) 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 31088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Chats is recorded at frequency rank #18,201, classified as anoun, pronounced [t͡ʃɛt͡s]. Clans is at rank #12,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced [klaːns].

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 31088, this pair ranks #1,735,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Chats vs Clans

Shared letters: acs. Private to "Chats": ht. Private to "Clans": ln.

"Chats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Clans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Chatscahts · cchats · chast · chatss · chatts · chhats · chtas · hcats
  • Clanscalns · cclans · clanns · clanss · clasn · cllans · clnas · lcans

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Chats" and "Clans" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t͡ʃɛt͡s] versus [klaːns]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Chats" or "Clans" show up more?
"Clans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,887 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Chats" and "Clans" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Chats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Clans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,735,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Chats" and "Clans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chair vs Chats". 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 #1,735,033 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