Which to use
“chase” is a noun and “choke” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,354
- “chase” frequency rank
- #10,824
- “choke” frequency rank
- 14178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chase | choke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of one who chases another; a pursuit. | To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict). |
Where the eye mixes chase and choke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chase vs choke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chase is /t͡ʃeɪs/ while choke is /t͡ʃəʊk/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chase is recorded at frequency rank #3,354, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃeɪs/. choke is at rank #10,824, tagged as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃəʊk/.
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 14178, this pair ranks #471,599 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chase vs choke
Shared letters: ceh. Private to "chase": as. Private to "choke": ko.
"chase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "choke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chase" and "choke" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "chase" or "choke"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "chase" and "choke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "choke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #471,599 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chase" and "choke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "choke vs crone". 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 #471,599 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.