chord
/kɔɹd/noun, verb
chord is spelled C-H-O-R-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “chord vs cord” about 3,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, chord means “A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of chord is chords.
How many letters and syllables are in chord?
| Letters | 5: C-H-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is chord?
Chord appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce chord?
- UK /kɔːd/
- US /kɔɹd/
Chord has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-chord.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with chord
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: cord (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: cord.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with chord?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as chord from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹd/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of chord
- chords plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- chording participle, present
- chorded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chord mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.
- 2
A line segment between two points of a curve.
- 3
A horizontal member of a truss.
- 4
A section of subsidiary railway track that interconnects two primary tracks that cross at different levels, to permit traffic to flow between them.
- 5
The distance between the leading and trailing edge of a wing, measured in the direction of the normal airflow.
- 6
An imaginary line from the luff of a sail to its leech.
- 7
A keyboard shortcut that involves two or more distinct keypresses, such as Ctrl+M followed by P.
- 8
The string of a musical instrument.
verb
- 1
To write chords for.
- 2
To accord; to harmonize together.
This note chords with that one.
- 3
To provide with musical chords or strings; to string; to tune.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Chord in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | accord , corde |
| German | Akkord , Sehne , Profilsehne , Tastenkombination |
| Portuguese | acorde , corda |
| Spanish | acorde , cuerda, subtensa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does chord come from?
Variant of cord, with spelling alteration due to Latin chorda (“cord”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”). No relation to French accord (“chord”) and its derivations. Doublet of cuerda.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).