Which to use
“chime” and “chimera” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,111
- “chime” frequency rank
- #34,823
- “chimera” frequency rank
- 58934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chime | chimera |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes. | Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon. |
Where the eye mixes chime and chimera
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chime runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against chimera's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chime with chimera
A purely visual mix-up. chime (/tʃaɪm/) and chimera (/kaɪˈmɪɹə/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “chime” sits inside “chimera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chime is recorded at frequency rank #24,111, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʃaɪm/. chimera is at rank #34,823, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kaɪˈmɪɹə/.
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 58934, this pair ranks #109,343 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chime vs chimera
Shared letters: cehim. Private to "chime": -. Private to "chimera": ar.
"chime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chimera" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chime" and "chimera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "chime" or "chimera" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chimera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,343 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chime" and "chimera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chiara vs chimera". 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 #109,343 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.