Which to use
“chemo” and “chess” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,880
- “chemo” frequency rank
- #7,776
- “chess” frequency rank
- 28656
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chemo | chess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of chemotherapy. | A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king. |
Where the eye mixes chemo and chess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chemo vs chess
A purely visual mix-up. chemo (/ˈkiːməʊ/) and chess (/t͡ʃɛs/) 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 28656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chemo is recorded at frequency rank #20,880, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkiːməʊ/. chess is at rank #7,776, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɛs/.
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 28656, this pair ranks #369,347 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chemo vs chess
Shared letters: ceh. Private to "chemo": mo. Private to "chess": s.
"chemo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chess" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chemo" for "chess" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "chemo" or "chess" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chemo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,347 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chemo" and "chess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chemo vs Cheri". 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 #369,347 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.