Which to use
“chafing” is a noun and “chasing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,371
- “chafing” frequency rank
- #5,864
- “chasing” frequency rank
- 52235
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chafing | chasing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act by which something is chafed. | present participle and gerund of chase |
Letter map: chafing vs chasing
Shared letters muted; letters that set chafing and chasing apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - chafing and chasing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: chafing is anoun and chasingaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - f in “chafing” becomes s in “chasing”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chafing is recorded at frequency rank #46,371, classified as anoun. chasing is at rank #5,864, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪŋ/.
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 52235, this pair ranks #158,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chafing vs chasing
Shared letters: acghin. Private to "chafing": f. Private to "chasing": s.
"chafing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "chasing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chafing" for "chasing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chafing" or "chasing"?
After this comparison
Pair "chafing" vs "chasing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "chafing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chasing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,754 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chafing" and "chasing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chafing vs chaining". 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 #158,754 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.