chalice
/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/
"chalice" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chalice” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,866 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,866
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large drinking cup, often having a stem and base and used especially for formal occasions and religious ceremonies.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chalice |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #28,866 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chalice” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chalice is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,866 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for chalice, with forms such as "cahlice", "cchalice", and "chailce". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "chance", "choice", "Charlie", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chalis, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French chalice, collateral form of calice, borrowed from Latin calix, calicem (“cup”), of uncertain etymology. In view of Umbrian skalçeta (“sacrifical vessel”), perhaps from a Proto-Italic *(s)kalik-,… The correct English form is chalice, spelled C-H-A-L-I-C-E.
Definition
- 1A large drinking cup, often having a stem and base and used especially for formal occasions and religious ceremonies.
- 2A kind of water-cooled pipe for smoking cannabis.
Etymology
From Middle English chalis, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French chalice, collateral form of calice, borrowed from Latin calix, calicem (“cup”), of uncertain etymology. In view of Umbrian skalçeta (“sacrifical vessel”), perhaps from a Proto-Italic *(s)kalik-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel-. Pokorny considered a parallel formation in Sanskrit कलश (kaláśa-, “(water-)jar, tub, pot, dish”), for Proto-Indo-European *kel-eḱ-, but De Vaan finds this unlikely. Alternatively, borrowed from Ancient Greek κύλιξ (kúlix) or an unattested variant thereof, maybe with contamination from κάλυξ (kálux, “shell, calyx”), but it is also possible that all were borrowed from related substrate words. Possible doublet of calyx and kelch. Compare Sumerian 𒃲(GAL).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahlice,cchalice,chailce,chalcie,chalicce,chaliec,challice,chhalice,chlaice,hcalice
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chalice - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "chalice"?
What does "chalice" mean?
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Using “chalice”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-L-I-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “chance” - see the side-by-side comparison. chalice vs chance
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.