chum

\tʃɔm\

/\tʃɔm\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“chum” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,959. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,959
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ami (sans idée d’amour).

Corpus desk

Index FR-chum · chum · French

chum · rank #18,959 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,959
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH choqués

Nearest frequency peer: choqués (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « chum »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « chum » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

chum vs Cm
25% similar
chum vs cul
50% similar
chum vs cru
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for chum
PropertyValue
Headwordchum
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tʃɔm\
Letters4
Frequency rank#18,959
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « chum »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).chumse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « choqués » (#18,958), « circulant » (#18,960), « cheminées » (#18,957). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chum » est au #18,959. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around chum (IPA \tʃɔm\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,959 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for chum, with forms such as "cchum", "chhum", and "chmu". 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, "Cm", "cul", "cru", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is chum, spelled C-H-U-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ami (sans idée d’amour).
  2. 2
    Amoureux, dans un couple non marié.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how chum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Chu tannée d’me faire embrasser dans le noir Quand tes chums t’attendent sur le bord du trottoir.
  2. On aime le bon vieux temps, les bons vieux congrès avec nos bons vieux chums qu’on n’a pas vus depuis trois ou quatre ans.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cchum
  • chhum
  • chmu
  • chumm
  • cuhm
  • hcum

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chum - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

cchum1chhum1chmu2chumm1cuhm2hcum2
Edit distance from "chum"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chum"?
"chum" is spelled C-H-U-M. The IPA pronunciation is \tʃɔm\.
What does "chum" mean?
As a noun, "chum" means: Ami (sans idée d’amour).
What words are commonly confused with "chum"?
"chum" is commonly confused with "Cm", "cul", "cru". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "chum"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chum" is \tʃɔm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chum" come from?
"chum" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chum", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cell#18,954Benz#18,946beni#18,945axée#18,940

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

coiffe6 variantsAnaïs6 variantsfolio6 variantsgîte6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list