Which to use
“chime” and “cine” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,111
- “chime” frequency rank
- #40,614
- “cine” frequency rank
- 64725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chime | cine |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | cinefilm |
Where the eye mixes chime and cine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chime runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against cine's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chime with cine
A purely visual mix-up. chime (/tʃaɪm/) and cine (/ˈsɪni/) 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 64725, 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/. cine is at rank #40,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪni/.
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 64725, this pair ranks #76,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chime vs cine
Shared letters: cei. Private to "chime": hm. Private to "cine": n.
"chime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "cine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chime" for "cine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chime" vs "cine" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chime" and "cine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cine vs cuny". 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 #76,265 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.