English homophones

checks/cheques/Czechs

"checks" (#4,218 written frequency) beats "cheques" (#25,319) in this 3-word /t͡ʃɛks/ cluster. Size rank #30 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage 2026-09-03

Frequency splits the cluster

These 3 spellings keep the same /t͡ʃɛks/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "checks" leads at #4,218, with "cheques" trailing at #25,319.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "che" then splits - "checks" (6 letters) vs "cheques" (7).
No shared spelling stem: "checks" is 6 letters, "Czechs" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cheques" is 7 letters, "Czechs" is 6; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across checks, cheques, Czechs: cehs. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

checks
6 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVCCC
Inventory cehks · private k
cheques
7 letters · 3 vowels · shape CCVCVVC
Inventory cehqsu · private qu
Czechs
6 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVCCC
Inventory cehsz · private z

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "checks" when you mean: plural of check
Write "cheques" when you mean: plural of cheque
Write "Czechs" when you mean: plural of Czech

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

checks ← cchecks · cehcks · chceks · checcks · checkks · checkss
cheques ← ccheques · cehques · cheqeus · cheqques · chequess · chequse
Czechs ← cczechs · cezchs · czcehs · czecchs · czechhs · czechss

Each spelling

checks

noun · /t͡ʃɛks/ · #4,218 frequency

plural of check

cheques

noun · /t͡ʃɛks/ · #25,319 frequency

plural of cheque

Czechs

noun · /t͡ʃɛks/ · #34,849 frequency

plural of Czech

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 3-spelling cluster (checks, cheques, Czechs). Here's where to go from here.

"checks" is the most frequent headword in this 3-spelling cluster (rank #4,218 in English). Full entry
Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 3 spellings ranks #30 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
Explore a nearby 3-spelling cluster: citing · sighting · siting. Nearby cluster
Each spelling in "checks, cheques, Czechs" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.