Which to use
“chief” and “child” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #804
- “chief” frequency rank
- #500
- “child” frequency rank
- 1304
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chief | child |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group. | A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority). |
Where the eye mixes chief and child
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. chief (/t͡ʃiːf/) and child (/tʃaɪld/) 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 1304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chief is recorded at frequency rank #804, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃiːf/. child is at rank #500, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃaɪld/.
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 1304, this pair ranks #527,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chief vs child
Shared letters: chi. Private to "chief": ef. Private to "child": dl.
"chief" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "child" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC