chalicevschoiceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,866
“chalice” frequency rank
#862
“choice” frequency rank
29728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chalice choice
Definition A large drinking cup, often having a stem and base and used especially for formal occasions and religious ceremonies. An option; a decision; an opportunity to choose or select something.

Where the eye mixes chalice and choice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
chalice
6 ch
choice

Look-alike desk: chalice vs choice

A purely visual mix-up. chalice (/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/) and choice (/tʃɔɪs/) 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 29728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chalice is recorded at frequency rank #28,866, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/. choice is at rank #862, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃɔɪs/.

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 29728, this pair ranks #360,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chalice vs choice

Shared letters: cehi. Private to "chalice": al. Private to "choice": o.

"chalice" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "choice" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chalicecahlice · cchalice · chailce · chalcie · chalicce · chaliec · challice · chhalice
  • choicecchoice · chhoice · chioce · chocie · choicce · choiec · cohice · hcoice

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chalice" for "choice" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/ versus /tʃɔɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chalice" vs "choice" - which ranks higher?
"choice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #862 in our English list, against #28,866 for "chalice". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chalice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "choice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #360,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chalice" and "choice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chalice vs Clarice". 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 #360,553 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