chillvschillenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,493
“chill” frequency rank
#24,671
“chillen” frequency rank
50164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chill chillen
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs chillen sich entspannen, ohne einer bestimmten Betätigung nachzugehen

Where the eye mixes chill and chillen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chill runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against chillen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
chill
7 ch
chillen

Visual trap between chill and chillen

A purely visual mix-up. chill ([t͡ʃɪl]) and chillen ([ˈt͡ʃɪlən]) 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) - “chill” sits inside “chillen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chill is recorded at frequency rank #25,493, classified as averb, pronounced [t͡ʃɪl]. chillen is at rank #24,671, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃɪlən].

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 50164, this pair ranks #1,184,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chill vs chillen

Shared letters: chil. Private to "chill": -. Private to "chillen": en.

"chill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "chillen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chill ← cchill · chhill · chil · chlil · cihll · hcill
  • chillen ← cchillen · chhillen · chileln · chilen · chillenn · chillne · chlilen · cihllen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chill" and "chillen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t͡ʃɪl] versus [ˈt͡ʃɪlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chill" vs "chillen" - which ranks higher?
"chillen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,671 in our German list, against #25,493 for "chill". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chillen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,184,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chill" and "chillen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chiles vs chill". 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 #1,184,189 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