chimney
/ˈt͡ʃɪmni/
"chimney" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chimney” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,882 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,882
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A vertical tube or hollow column used to emit environmentally polluting gaseous and solid matter (including but not limited to by-products of burning carbon- or hydrocarbon-based fuels); a flue.
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 | chimney |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #13,882 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chimney” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chimney is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,882 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for chimney, with forms such as "cchimney", "chhimney", and "chimeny". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "chutney", "chime", "Cheney", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chymeneye, chymneye, chymene, from Old French cheminee, from Late Latin camīnāta, from Latin camīnus, from Ancient Greek κάμῑνος (kámīnos, “furnace”). Doublet of chimenea. The correct English form is chimney, spelled C-H-I-M-N-E-Y.
Definition
- 1A vertical tube or hollow column used to emit environmentally polluting gaseous and solid matter (including but not limited to by-products of burning carbon- or hydrocarbon-based fuels); a flue.
- 2The glass flue surrounding the flame of an oil lamp.
- 3The smokestack of a steam locomotive.
- 4A narrow cleft in a rock face; a narrow vertical cave passage.
- 5A vagina.
- 6A black eye; a shiner.
Etymology
From Middle English chymeneye, chymneye, chymene, from Old French cheminee, from Late Latin camīnāta, from Latin camīnus, from Ancient Greek κάμῑνος (kámīnos, “furnace”). Doublet of chimenea.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchimney,chhimney,chimeny,chimmney,chimneyy,chimnney,chimnye,chinmey,chminey,cihmney,hcimney
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chimney - 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 "chimney"?
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Using “chimney”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-I-M-N-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃɪmni/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “chutney” - see the side-by-side comparison. chimney vs chutney
- 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.