chasesvscrisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,745
“chases” frequency rank
#13,492
“crises” frequency rank
35237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chases crises
Definition plural of chase plural of crisis

Where the eye mixes chases and crises

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

6 ch
chases
6 ch
crises

Visual trap between chases and crises

A purely visual mix-up. chases (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/) and crises (/ˈkɹaɪsiz/) 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 35237, 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/. crises is at rank #13,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹaɪsiz/.

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 35237, this pair ranks #313,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chases vs crises

Shared letters: ces. Private to "chases": ah. Private to "crises": ir.

"chases" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "crises" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chasescahses · cchases · chaess · chasess · chasses · chhases · chsaes · hcases
  • crisesccrises · cirses · crisess · crisse · crisses · crrises · crsies · rcises

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chases" and "crises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/ versus /ˈkɹaɪsiz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chases" vs "crises" - which ranks higher?
"crises" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,492 in our English list, against #21,745 for "chases". 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 "crises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #313,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chases" and "crises" 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 #313,680 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