charmvscharmsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,863
“charm” frequency rank
#14,085
“charms” frequency rank
19948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charm charms
Definition An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation). plural of charm

Where the eye mixes charm and charms

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
charm
6 ch
charms

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. charm (/tʃɑːm/) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “charm” sits inside “charms”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charm is recorded at frequency rank #5,863, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʃɑːm/. 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 19948, this pair ranks #434,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of charm vs charms

Shared letters: achmr. Private to "charm": -. Private to "charms": s.

"charm" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "charms" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • charmcahrm · ccharm · chamr · charmm · charrm · chharm · chram · hcarm
  • charmscahrms · ccharms · chamrs · charmms · charmss · charrms · charsm · chharms

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "charm" and "charms" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/tʃɑːm/ versus /t͡ʃɑɹmz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "charm" or "charms"?
"charm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,863 in our English list, against #14,085 for "charms". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "charm" 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 #434,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "charm" 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