chem
/kɛm/
"chem" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chem” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,774. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,774
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Clipping of chemistry (“branch of natural science”), usually referring to the subject or the department.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chem · chem · English
chem · rank #15,774 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,774
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH che
Nearest frequency peer: che (-1 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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “chem”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- changer
changer
84,229 corpus weight
- che
che
84,228 corpus weight
- chem
chem
84,227 corpus weight
- chestnut
chestnut
84,226 corpus weight
- CJ
CJ
84,225 corpus weight
- cleaners
cleaners
84,224 corpus weight
What this shows “chem” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | chem |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɛm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #15,774 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “chem”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around chem (IPA /kɛm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,774 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for chem, with forms such as "cchem", "cehm", and "chemm". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CM", "cum", "chi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clippings. The correct English form is chem, spelled C-H-E-M.
Definition
- 1Clipping of chemistry (“branch of natural science”), usually referring to the subject or the department.
- 2Clipping of chemical.
- 3Clipping of chemical.
- 4Clipping of chemical.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chem appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It boils down to science. Biology, chemistry and physics. I used to hate bio and chem. Now they fascinate me because I’ve realised they make up the world around us as well as us.
The seas, morosely fished by Ethan and the others, are heavily polluted, with Ethan informing Timothy, who risked a freezing dip: “If the tide doesn’t get you, the chems will. You want to stay healthy past forty, alive past fifty, you’ll remember to stay well out of the water.”
Etymology
Clippings.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cchem
- cehm
- chemm
- chhem
- chme
- hcem
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chem - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "chem", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).