chinsvscigsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“chins” and “cigs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,057
“chins” frequency rank
#34,829
“cigs” frequency rank
76886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chins cigs
Definition plural of chin plural of cig

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chins and cigs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
chins
4 ch
cigs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chins (/t͡ʃɪnz/) and cigs (/sɪɡz/) 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 76886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chins is recorded at frequency rank #42,057, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɪnz/. cigs is at rank #34,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪɡz/.

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 76886, this pair ranks #28,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chins vs cigs

Shared letters: cis. Private to "chins": hn. Private to "cigs": g.

"chins" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "cigs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chinscchins · chhins · chinns · chinss · chisn · chnis · cihns · hcins
  • cigsccigs · cgis · ciggs · cigss · cisg · icgs

Frequency comparison

chins#42,057
cigs#34,829

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chins" and "cigs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃɪnz/ versus /sɪɡz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chins" or "cigs"?
"cigs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,829 in our English list, against #42,057 for "chins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chins vs cigs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chins” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list