chokervschokesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,978
“choker” frequency rank
#31,913
“chokes” frequency rank
78891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choker chokes
Definition A piece of jewelry or ornamental fabric, worn as a necklace or neckerchief, tight to the throat. plural of choke

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set choker and chokes apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
choker
6 ch
chokes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. choker (/ˈtʃəʊkə/) and chokes (/tʃəʊks/) 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 a single letter - r in “choker” becomes s in “chokes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choker is recorded at frequency rank #46,978, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʃəʊkə/. chokes is at rank #31,913, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʃəʊks/.

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 78891, this pair ranks #23,503 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of choker vs chokes

Shared letters: cehko. Private to "choker": r. Private to "chokes": s.

"choker" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chokercchoker · chhoker · chkoer · choekr · chokerr · chokker · chokre · cohker
  • chokescchokes · chhokes · chkoes · choeks · chokess · chokkes · chokse · cohkes

Frequency comparison

choker#46,978
chokes#31,913

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "choker" and "chokes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtʃəʊkə/ versus /tʃəʊks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "choker" or "chokes"?
"chokes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,913 in our English list, against #46,978 for "choker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering choker vs chokes

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 “choker” 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