chancevschargeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#548
“chance” frequency rank
#1,012
“charge” frequency rank
1560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chance charge
Definition An opportunity or possibility. The amount of money levied for a service.

Where the eye mixes chance and charge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
chance
6 ch
charge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chance (/t͡ʃæns/) and charge (/t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chance is recorded at frequency rank #548, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃæns/. charge is at rank #1,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/.

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 1560, this pair ranks #527,175 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chance vs charge

Shared letters: aceh. Private to "chance": n. Private to "charge": gr.

"chance" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "charge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chancecahnce · cchance · chacne · chancce · chanec · channce · chence · chhance
  • chargecahrge · ccharge · chagre · chareg · chargge · charrge · chharge · chrage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chance" and "charge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃæns/ versus /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chance" or "charge"?
"chance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #548 in our English list, against #1,012 for "charge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list