casivschiTell them apart

Quick tell: casi is a adverb, chi is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“casi” is an adverb and “chi” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#221
“casi” frequency rank
#9,955
“chi” frequency rank
10176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature casi chi
Definition Que por poca diferencia no es, que tiene mucha semejanza. Principio activo que forma parte de todo ser vivo y que se podría traducir como "flujo vital de energía". Es similar a conceptos occidentales como energeia, magnetismo animal, élan vital o energía vital (vitalismo).

Where the eye mixes casi and chi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
casi
3 ch
chi

Why the eye confuses casi with chi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: casi is [ˈkasi] while chi is [ˈt͡ʃi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

casi is recorded at frequency rank #221, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈkasi]. chi is at rank #9,955, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃi].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 10176, this pair ranks #299,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of casi vs chi

Shared letters: ci. Private to "casi": as. Private to "chi": h.

"casi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "chi" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casiacsi · caci · cais · cassi · ccasi · csai

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "casi" and "chi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "casi" is an adverb and "chi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "casi" vs "chi" - which ranks higher?
"casi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #221 in our Spanish list, against #9,955 for "chi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "casi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #299,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "casi" and "chi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chi vs cuc". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #299,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list