chasesvschestsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,745
“chases” frequency rank
#22,613
“chests” frequency rank
44358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chases chests
Definition plural of chase plural of chest

Where the eye mixes chases and chests

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

6 ch
chases
6 ch
chests

Visual trap between chases and chests

A purely visual mix-up. chases (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/) and chests (/t͡ʃɛsts/) 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 44358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chases is recorded at frequency rank #21,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/. chests is at rank #22,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɛsts/.

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 44358, this pair ranks #231,350 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chases vs chests

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "chases": a. Private to "chests": t.

"chases" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chests" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chasescahses · cchases · chaess · chasess · chasses · chhases · chsaes · hcases
  • chestscchests · cehsts · chessts · chestss · chestts · chetss · chhests · chsets

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chases" for "chests" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/ versus /t͡ʃɛsts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chases" vs "chests" - which ranks higher?
"chases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,745 in our English list, against #22,613 for "chests". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "chases" and "chests" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chests" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #231,350 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chases" and "chests" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cates vs chases". 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 #231,350 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