chainvschaiseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,244
“chain” frequency rank
#44,680
“chaise” frequency rank
46924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chain chaise
Definition A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. An open, horse-drawn carriage for one or two people, usually with one horse and two wheels.

Where the eye mixes chain and chaise

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chain runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against chaise's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
chain
6 ch
chaise

Look-alike desk: chain vs chaise

A purely visual mix-up. chain (/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/) and chaise (/ʃeɪz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chain is recorded at frequency rank #2,244, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪn/. chaise is at rank #44,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪz/.

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 46924, this pair ranks #207,218 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chain vs chaise

Shared letters: achi. Private to "chain": n. Private to "chaise": es.

"chain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "chaise" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaincahin · cchain · chainn · chani · chhain · hcain
  • chaisecahise · cchaise · chaies · chaisse · chasie · chhaise · chiase · hcaise

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chain" and "chaise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/ versus /ʃeɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chain" vs "chaise" - which ranks higher?
"chain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,244 in our English list, against #44,680 for "chaise". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,218 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chain" and "chaise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chaim vs chaise". 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 #207,218 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list