chick
/t͡ʃɪk/
"chick" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chick” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,223. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,223
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A young bird.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chick · chick · English
chick · rank #6,223 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #6,223
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH coke
Nearest frequency peer: coke (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “chick”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- butler
butler
93,782 corpus weight
- cartoon
cartoon
93,780 corpus weight
- chick
chick
93,778 corpus weight
- coke
coke
93,777 corpus weight
- comparable
comparable
93,776 corpus weight
- confirmation
confirmation
93,775 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “chick” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | chick |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃɪk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,223 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chick” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around chick (IPA /t͡ʃɪk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,223 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for chick, with forms such as "cchick", "chcik", and "chhick". 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, "chip", "cock", "chin", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chicke, chike, variation of chiken (“chicken", also "chick”), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”). Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (compare chit (“young, pert woman”)). More at chicken. The correct English form is chick, spelled C-H-I-C-K.
Definition
- 1A young bird.
- 2A young bird.
- 3An attractive, young woman; or, more generally, a woman.
- 4A friendly fighter aircraft.
- 5A young child.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chick appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: nestling, fledgling
Published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, scientists conclude that due to sea ice loss last year, it is highly probable that no chicks had survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica.
Etymology
From Middle English chicke, chike, variation of chiken (“chicken", also "chick”), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”). Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (compare chit (“young, pert woman”)). More at chicken.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cchick
- chcik
- chhick
- chicck
- chickk
- chikc
- cihck
- hcick
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chick - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "chick"?
What does "chick" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "chick"?
How do you pronounce "chick"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chick", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "chick". Here's where to go from here.
- "chick" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "chip". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #6,223 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.