chanvschasTell them apart

Quick tell: chan is a adjective, chas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chan” is an adjective and “chas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,679
“chan” frequency rank
#35,938
“chas” frequency rank
43617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chan chas
Definition Llano, plano. Representa el sonido que se produce al dar palmadas sobre el cuerpo.

Where the eye mixes chan and chas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chan and chas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
chan
4 ch
chas

Look-alike desk: chan vs chas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chan is [ˈt͡ʃaŋ] while chas is [ˈt͡ʃas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “chan” becomes s in “chas”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chan is recorded at frequency rank #7,679, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃaŋ]. chas is at rank #35,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃas].

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 43617, this pair ranks #141,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chan vs chas

Shared letters: ach. Private to "chan": n. Private to "chas": s.

"chan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "chas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chan ← cahn · cchan · chann · chhan · chna · hcan
  • chas ← cchas · chass · chhas · chsa · hcas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chan" for "chas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chan" is an adjective and "chas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "chan" or "chas" show up more?
"chan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,679 in our Spanish list, against #35,938 for "chas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chan" and "chas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chas vs chop". 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 #141,679 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