Which to use
“chime” and “chimes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,111
- “chime” frequency rank
- #26,720
- “chimes” frequency rank
- 50831
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chime | chimes |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | plural of chime |
Where the eye mixes chime and chimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chime runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against chimes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chime with chimes
A purely visual mix-up. chime (/tʃaɪm/) and chimes (/t͡ʃaɪmz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “chime” sits inside “chimes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50831, 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/. chimes is at rank #26,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃaɪmz/.
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 50831, this pair ranks #170,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chime vs chimes
Shared letters: cehim. Private to "chime": -. Private to "chimes": s.
"chime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "chimes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chime" for "chimes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "chime" or "chimes" 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 "chimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chime" and "chimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chimes vs chums". 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 #170,773 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.