Which to use
“chives” and “crimes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,841
- “chives” frequency rank
- #3,420
- “crimes” frequency rank
- 49261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chives | crimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of chive | plural of crime |
Where the eye mixes chives and crimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chives and crimes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: chives vs crimes
A purely visual mix-up. chives (/t͡ʃaɪvz/) and crimes (/kɹaɪmz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chives is recorded at frequency rank #45,841, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃaɪvz/. crimes is at rank #3,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaɪmz/.
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 49261, this pair ranks #185,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chives vs crimes
Shared letters: ceis. Private to "chives": hv. Private to "crimes": mr.
"chives" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "crimes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chives" and "crimes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chives" or "crimes"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chives" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chives" and "crimes" 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 #185,307 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.