chainingvschasingTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,974
“chaining” frequency rank
#5,864
“chasing” frequency rank
52838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaining chasing
Definition present participle and gerund of chain present participle and gerund of chase

Where the eye mixes chaining and chasing

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
chaining
7 ch
chasing

Visual trap between chaining and chasing

A purely visual mix-up. chaining (/ˈt͡ʃeɪnɪŋ/) and chasing (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪŋ/) 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 52838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaining is recorded at frequency rank #46,974, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪnɪŋ/. 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 52838, this pair ranks #153,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chaining vs chasing

Shared letters: acghin. Private to "chaining": -. Private to "chasing": s.

"chaining" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "chasing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chainingcahining · cchaining · chaiinng · chainign · chainingg · chaininng · chainnig · chainning
  • chasingcahsing · cchasing · chaisng · chasign · chasingg · chasinng · chasnig · chassing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chaining" for "chasing" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃeɪnɪŋ/ versus /ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chaining" vs "chasing" - which ranks higher?
"chasing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,864 in our English list, against #46,974 for "chaining". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaining" 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 #153,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaining" and "chasing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaining vs coining". 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 #153,794 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