Which to use
“chilled” and “chilly” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,125
- “chilled” frequency rank
- #14,916
- “chilly” frequency rank
- 30041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chilled | chilly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cooled. | Cold enough to cause discomfort. |
Where the eye mixes chilled and chilly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chilled runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against chilly's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chilled with chilly
A purely visual mix-up. chilled (/t͡ʃɪld/) and chilly (/ˈt͡ʃɪli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chilled is recorded at frequency rank #15,125, classified as anadj, pronounced /t͡ʃɪld/. chilly is at rank #14,916, tagged as anadj, 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 30041, this pair ranks #357,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chilled vs chilly
Shared letters: chil. Private to "chilled": de. Private to "chilly": y.
"chilled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "chilly" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chilled" and "chilly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "chilled" or "chilly" 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 "chilled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chilly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chilled" and "chilly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "celled vs chilled". 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 #357,845 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.