# charge

> English word · Noun · IPA /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #1,012

## Definitions
1. The amount of money levied for a service.
2. An attack in which combatants rush towards an enemy in an attempt to engage in close combat.
3. A forceful forward movement.
4. An accusation.
5. An accusation.
6. An electric charge.
7. The scope of someone's responsibility.
8. Someone or something entrusted to one's care, such as a child to a babysitter or a student to a teacher.
9. A load or burden; cargo.
10. An instruction.
11. A mortgage.
12. An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
13. A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.
14. A measured amount of explosive.
15. An image displayed on an escutcheon.
16. A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.
17. A sort of plaster or ointment.
18. Weight; import; value.
19. A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre.
20. An address given at a church service concluding a visitation.
21. Cannabis.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱers-
Proto-Indo-European *-ós
Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós
Proto-Celtic *karros
Gaulish *karrosbor.
Late Latin carrus
Late Latin -ico
Late Latin carricō
Late Latin carricāre
Old French chargierder.
Middle English chargen
English charge
From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

## Easily confused with
- **chart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-chart)
- **chase** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-chase)
- **charm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charm)
- **Clare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-clare)
- **chore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-chore)
- **Clarke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-clarke)
- **charms** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charms)
- **coarse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-coarse)
- **Cherie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-cherie)
- **chaste** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-chaste)
- **Charli** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charli)
- **Charles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charles)
- **charges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charges)
- **charged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charged)
- **Charlie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charlie)
- **charter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charter)
- **charger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charger)
- **Charley** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charley)
- **charmed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charmed)
- **charted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/charge-vs-charted)

## Common misspellings (9)
`cahrge`, `ccharge`, `chagre`, `chareg`, `chargge`, `charrge`, `chharge`, `chrage`, `hcarge`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/charge