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Chili or chilly?

chili is a noun meaning “The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties…”; chilly is an adjective meaning “Cold enough to cause discomfort”. Use chili as a noun and chilly as an adjective. They sound the same (/ˈt͡ʃɪli/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) chili is about 1.7 times as common as chilly.

chiliorchilly

What is the difference between chili and chilly?

chilichilly
Part of speechnounadjective
Meaning

USThe pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking

USPowdered chili pepper, used as a spice or flavouring in cooking

USA dish made with chili peppers and other ingredients, such as beans and beef

Cold enough to cause discomfort

Feeling uncomfortably cold

Examplenone recordedI’m getting rather chilly over here – could you shut the window please?
Formschilis, chilieschillier, chilliest
Pronunciation/ˈt͡ʃɪli/ /ˈt͡ʃɪliː//ˈt͡ʃɪli/
In writing5.4 times per million words3.2 times per million words

Sources: chili and chilly in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Every current meaning of chili and chilly

chili

  1. 1

    noun USThe pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking

  2. 2

    noun USA dish made with chili peppers and other ingredients, such as beans and beef

  3. 3

    noun USPowdered chili pepper, used as a spice or flavouring in cooking

  4. 4

    noun USCincinnati chili

  5. 5

    noun USA spicy stew of chicken or paneer, capsicum and onion, eaten as an appetizer

chilly

  1. 1

    adjective Cold enough to cause discomfort

  2. 2

    adjective Feeling uncomfortably cold

    I’m getting rather chilly over here – could you shut the window please?

  3. 3

    adjective Distant and cool; unfriendly

    She gave me a chilly look when I made the suggestion

Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.

Which is more common, chili or chilly?

chili appears 5.4 times per million words; chilly 3.2 times per million words.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

The words