chunkvschunksConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,204
“chunk” frequency rank
#15,364
“chunks” frequency rank
27568
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chunk chunks
Definition A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone. plural of chunk

Where the eye mixes chunk and chunks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
chunk
6 ch
chunks

Look-alike desk: chunk vs chunks

A purely visual mix-up. chunk (/t͡ʃʌŋk/) and chunks (/t͡ʃʌŋks/) 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 extra letter(s) - “chunk” sits inside “chunks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chunk is recorded at frequency rank #12,204, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃʌŋk/. chunks is at rank #15,364, tagged as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃʌŋks/.

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 27568, this pair ranks #377,894 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chunk vs chunks

Shared letters: chknu. Private to "chunk": -. Private to "chunks": s.

"chunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "chunks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chunkcchunk · chhunk · chnuk · chukn · chunkk · chunnk · cuhnk · hcunk
  • chunkscchunks · chhunks · chnuks · chukns · chunkks · chunkss · chunnks · chunsk

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chunk" and "chunks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃʌŋk/ versus /t͡ʃʌŋks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chunk" or "chunks"?
"chunk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,204 in our English list, against #15,364 for "chunks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "chunk" and "chunks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chunk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chunks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #377,894 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chunk" and "chunks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chums vs chunks". 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 #377,894 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