chow
/t͡ʃaʊ/
"chow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chow” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,434 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,434
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Food, especially snacks.
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 | chow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃaʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #16,434 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chow” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chow is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /t͡ʃaʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,434 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for chow, with forms such as "cchow", "chhow", and "choww". 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, "co", "CW", "cop", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc. The correct English form is chow, spelled C-H-O-W.
Definition
- 1Food, especially snacks.
- 2Unripe, or partially ripened, fruit seasoned and served as a dish, e.g. pineapple chow or mango chow.
- 3A Chow Chow.
- 4A Chinese person.
Etymology
Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchow,chhow,choww,chwo,cohw,hcow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chow - 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 "chow"?
What does "chow" mean?
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Using “chow”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /t͡ʃaʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “co” - see the side-by-side comparison. chow vs co
- 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.