chaservschasteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: chaser is a noun, chaste is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chaser” is a noun and “chaste” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,403
“chaser” frequency rank
#36,921
“chaste” frequency rank
61324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaser chaste
Definition Something or someone who chases. Synonym of pure and virtuous, particularly

Where the eye mixes chaser and chaste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chaser (CCVCVC) and chaste (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
chaser
6 ch
chaste

Look-alike desk: chaser vs chaste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chaser is /ˈt͡ʃeɪsə/ while chaste is /t͡ʃeɪst/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaser is recorded at frequency rank #24,403, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪsə/. chaste is at rank #36,921, tagged as anadj, pronounced /t͡ʃeɪst/.

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 61324, this pair ranks #94,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chaser vs chaste

Shared letters: acehs. Private to "chaser": r. Private to "chaste": t.

"chaser" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chaste" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaser ← cahser · cchaser · chaesr · chaserr · chasre · chasser · chhaser · chsaer
  • chaste ← cahste · cchaste · chaset · chasste · chastte · chatse · chhaste · chsate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chaser" and "chaste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chaser" is a noun and "chaste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chaser" or "chaste"?
"chaser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,403 in our English list, against #36,921 for "chaste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaser" and "chaste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaise vs chaste". 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 #94,961 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list