chiefsvschildsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,342
“chiefs” frequency rank
#23,202
“childs” frequency rank
29544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chiefs childs
Definition plural of chief plural of child

Letter map: chiefs vs childs

Shared letters muted; letters that set chiefs and childs apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
chiefs
6 ch
childs

Spelling & dictionary notes on chiefs vs childs

chiefs and childs are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chiefs is recorded at frequency rank #6,342, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃiːfs/. childs is at rank #23,202, tagged as anoun.

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 29544, this pair ranks #362,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chiefs vs childs

Shared letters: chis. Private to "chiefs": ef. Private to "childs": dl.

"chiefs" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "childs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chiefscchiefs · cheifs · chhiefs · chieffs · chiefss · chiesf · chifes · cihefs
  • childscchilds · chhilds · chidls · childds · childss · chillds · chilsd · chlids

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chiefs" and "childs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "chiefs" vs "childs" - which ranks higher?
"chiefs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,342 in our English list, against #23,202 for "childs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "chiefs" vs "childs" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chiefs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "childs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chiefs" and "childs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "childs vs chives". 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 #362,099 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