chasesvschokesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,745
“chases” frequency rank
#31,913
“chokes” frequency rank
53658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chases chokes
Definition plural of chase plural of choke

Where the eye mixes chases and chokes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chases and chokes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
chases
6 ch
chokes

Visual trap between chases and chokes

A purely visual mix-up. chases (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/) and chokes (/tʃəʊks/) 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 53658, 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/. chokes is at rank #31,913, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃəʊks/.

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 53658, this pair ranks #147,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chases vs chokes

Shared letters: cehs. Private to "chases": a. Private to "chokes": ko.

"chases" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chases ← cahses · cchases · chaess · chasess · chasses · chhases · chsaes · hcases
  • chokes ← cchokes · chhokes · chkoes · choeks · chokess · chokkes · chokse · cohkes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chases" for "chokes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/ versus /tʃəʊks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chases" vs "chokes" - which ranks higher?
"chases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,745 in our English list, against #31,913 for "chokes". 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 "chases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chases" and "chokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chokes vs Croker". 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 #147,260 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