chardvsclaryWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,042
“chard” frequency rank
#37,855
“clary” frequency rank
78897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chard clary
Definition An edible leafy vegetable, Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla, with a slightly bitter taste. clary sage (Salvia sclarea)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chard and clary apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
chard
5 ch
clary

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chard (/t͡ʃɑːd/) and clary (/ˈklɛəɹi/) 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 78897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chard is recorded at frequency rank #41,042, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɑːd/. clary is at rank #37,855, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklɛəɹi/.

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 78897, this pair ranks #23,482 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chard vs clary

Shared letters: acr. Private to "chard": dh. Private to "clary": ly.

"chard" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "clary" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chardcahrd · cchard · chadr · chardd · charrd · chhard · chrad · hcard
  • clarycclary · clarry · claryy · clayr · cllary · clray · lcary

Frequency comparison

chard#41,042
clary#37,855

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chard" and "clary" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃɑːd/ versus /ˈklɛəɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chard" or "clary"?
"clary" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,855 in our English list, against #41,042 for "chard". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chard vs clary

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chard” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list