childsvschiliConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,202
“childs” frequency rank
#10,663
“chili” frequency rank
33865
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature childs chili
Definition plural of child The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking.

Letter map: childs vs chili

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

6 ch
childs
5 ch
chili

Spelling & dictionary notes on childs vs chili

childs and chili 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

childs is recorded at frequency rank #23,202, classified as anoun. chili is at rank #10,663, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪli/.

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 33865, this pair ranks #325,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of childs vs chili

Shared letters: chil. Private to "childs": ds. Private to "chili": -.

"childs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "chili" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • childscchilds · chhilds · chidls · childds · childss · chillds · chilsd · chlids
  • chilicchili · chhili · chiil · chlii · cihli · hcili

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "childs" and "chili" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "childs" or "chili"?
"chili" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,663 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "childs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chili" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "childs" and "chili" 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 #325,720 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