Which to use
“chord” and “cod” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,019
- “chord” frequency rank
- #8,399
- “cod” frequency rank
- 20418
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chord | cod |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. | A type of sea fish or the meat from said fish. |
Where the eye mixes chord and cod
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chord with cod
A purely visual mix-up. chord (/kɔːd/) and cod (/kɒd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chord is recorded at frequency rank #12,019, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔːd/. cod is at rank #8,399, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɒd/.
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 20418, this pair ranks #431,213 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chord vs cod
Shared letters: cdo. Private to "chord": hr. Private to "cod": -.
"chord" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cod" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chord ← cchord · chhord · chodr · chordd · chorrd · chrod · cohrd · hcord
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chord" and "cod" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "chord" or "cod" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chord" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cod" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,213 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chord" and "cod" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cheri vs chord". 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 #431,213 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.