Which to use
“chills” and “chives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,665
- “chills” frequency rank
- #45,841
- “chives” frequency rank
- 62506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chills | chives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of chill | plural of chive |
Where the eye mixes chills and chives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chills (CCVCCC) and chives (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between chills and chives
A purely visual mix-up. chills (/t͡ʃɪlz/) and chives (/t͡ʃaɪvz/) 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 62506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chills is recorded at frequency rank #16,665, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪlz/. chives is at rank #45,841, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃaɪvz/.
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 62506, this pair ranks #88,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chills vs chives
Shared letters: chis. Private to "chills": l. Private to "chives": ev.
"chills" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "chives" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chills" and "chives" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "chills" vs "chives" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "chills" and "chives" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chills" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chills" and "chives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chimed 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 #88,117 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.