Which to use
“charmed” is an adjective and “chimed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,878
- “charmed” frequency rank
- #44,116
- “chimed” frequency rank
- 64994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | charmed | chimed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Under a magic spell (cast by a charm); bewitched. | simple past and past participle of chime |
Where the eye mixes charmed and chimed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. charmed runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against chimed's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: charmed vs chimed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: charmed is /tʃɑːmd/ while chimed is /t͡ʃaɪmd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
charmed is recorded at frequency rank #20,878, classified as anadj, pronounced /tʃɑːmd/. chimed is at rank #44,116, tagged as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃaɪmd/.
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 64994, this pair ranks #74,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of charmed vs chimed
Shared letters: cdehm. Private to "charmed": ar. Private to "chimed": i.
"charmed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "chimed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "charmed" for "chimed" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "charmed" or "chimed" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "charmed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chimed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "charmed" and "chimed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chimed vs chives". 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 #74,945 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.