Which to use
“chance” and “channel” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #548
- “chance” frequency rank
- #1,478
- “channel” frequency rank
- 2026
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chance | channel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An opportunity or possibility. | The hollow bed of running waters; (also) the bed of the sea or other body of water. |
Where the eye mixes chance and channel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. chance (/t͡ʃæns/) and channel (/ˈt͡ʃænəl/) 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 2026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chance is recorded at frequency rank #548, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃæns/. channel is at rank #1,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃænəl/.
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 2026, this pair ranks #526,043 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chance vs channel
Shared letters: acehn. Private to "chance": -. Private to "channel": l.
"chance" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "channel" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC