Which to use
“cham” and “chime” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,041
- “cham” frequency rank
- #24,111
- “chime” frequency rank
- 65152
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cham | chime |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Archaic spelling of khan. | A musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes. |
Where the eye mixes cham and chime
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cham vs chime
A purely visual mix-up. cham (/kæm/) and chime (/tʃaɪm/) 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 65152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cham is recorded at frequency rank #41,041, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæm/. chime is at rank #24,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃaɪm/.
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 65152, this pair ranks #74,163 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cham vs chime
Shared letters: chm. Private to "cham": a. Private to "chime": ei.
"cham" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "chime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cham" for "chime" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "cham" or "chime" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,163 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cham" and "chime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cham vs Cobham". 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 #74,163 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.