chancy
/ˈtʃænsi/
"chancy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chancy” is uncommon English (frequency #97,927 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,927
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Uncertain; risky; hazardous.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chancy · chancy · English
chancy · rank #97,927 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #97,927
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Chariton
Nearest frequency peer: Chariton (+2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “chancy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cathodic
cathodic
2,082 corpus weight
- ceilinged
ceilinged
2,080 corpus weight
- chancy
chancy
2,074 corpus weight
- Chariton
Chariton
2,072 corpus weight
- Chaturthi
Chaturthi
2,069 corpus weight
- chey
chey
2,065 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chancy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chancy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtʃænsi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #97,927 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chancy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chancy is uncommon English at frequency #97,927 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈtʃænsi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for chancy, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From chance + -y. The correct English form is chancy, spelled C-H-A-N-C-Y.
Definition
- 1Uncertain; risky; hazardous.
- 2Subject to chance; random.
- 3Lucky; bringing good luck.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chancy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In winter steam contributes a fairly high proportion of its tractive effort, say 15 per cent, to heating the train. Diesels have at the moment separate oil-fired boilers which are somewhat chancy affairs, and only electric locomotives grab unlimited power for heating which does not affect their punctuality.
You might think it's foolish This chancy rendezvous (You might think) You might think I'm crazy (All I want) All I want is you
Etymology
From chance + -y.
This word in other languages
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chancy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).