charvschocWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: char is a verb, choc is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“char” is a verb and “choc” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,585
“char” frequency rank
#44,687
“choc” frequency rank
60272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature char choc
Definition To burn something to charcoal; to be burnt to charcoal. Clipping of chocolate.

Where the eye mixes char and choc

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
char
4 ch
choc

Why the eye confuses char with choc

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: char is /t͡ʃɑː/ while choc is /t͡ʃɒk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

char is recorded at frequency rank #15,585, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃɑː/. choc is at rank #44,687, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɒk/.

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 60272, this pair ranks #101,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of char vs choc

Shared letters: ch. Private to "char": ar. Private to "choc": o.

"char" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "choc" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • charcahr · cchar · charr · chhar · chra · hcar
  • choccchoc · chco · chhoc · chocc · cohc · hcoc

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "char" and "choc" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "char" is a verb and "choc" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "char" vs "choc" - which ranks higher?
"char" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,585 in our English list, against #44,687 for "choc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "char" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "choc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "char" and "choc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "choc vs Clo". 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 #101,145 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