chargevscharmsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,012
“charge” frequency rank
#14,085
“charms” frequency rank
15097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charge charms
Definition The amount of money levied for a service. plural of charm

Where the eye mixes charge and charms

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

6 ch
charge
6 ch
charms

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. charge (/t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/) and charms (/t͡ʃɑɹmz/) 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 15097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charge is recorded at frequency rank #1,012, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/. charms is at rank #14,085, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɑɹmz/.

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 15097, this pair ranks #466,085 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of charge vs charms

Shared letters: achr. Private to "charge": eg. Private to "charms": ms.

"charge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "charms" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chargecahrge · ccharge · chagre · chareg · chargge · charrge · chharge · chrage
  • charmscahrms · ccharms · chamrs · charmms · charmss · charrms · charsm · chharms

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "charge" and "charms" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/ versus /t͡ʃɑɹmz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "charge" or "charms"?
"charge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,012 in our English list, against #14,085 for "charms". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "charge" and "charms". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "charge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "charms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #466,085 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "charge" and "charms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Charli vs charms". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list