chimedvschimpWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: chimed is a verb, chimp is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chimed” is a verb and “chimp” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,116
“chimed” frequency rank
#30,731
“chimp” frequency rank
74847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chimed chimp
Definition simple past and past participle of chime Clipping of chimpanzee.

Where the eye mixes chimed and chimp

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
chimed
5 ch
chimp

Look-alike desk: chimed vs chimp

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chimed is /t͡ʃaɪmd/ while chimp is /t͡ʃɪmp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chimed is recorded at frequency rank #44,116, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃaɪmd/. chimp is at rank #30,731, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪmp/.

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 74847, this pair ranks #35,030 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chimed vs chimp

Shared letters: chim. Private to "chimed": de. Private to "chimp": p.

"chimed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chimp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chimedcchimed · chhimed · chiemd · chimde · chimedd · chimmed · chmied · cihmed
  • chimpcchimp · chhimp · chimmp · chimpp · chipm · chmip · cihmp · hcimp

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chimed" and "chimp" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chimed" is a verb and "chimp" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "chimed" or "chimp" show up more?
"chimp" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,731 in our English list, against #44,116 for "chimed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chimed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chimp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,030 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chimed" and "chimp" 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 #35,030 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list