checkvschickWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“check” and “chick” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,188
“check” frequency rank
#36,306
“chick” frequency rank
47494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature check chick
Definition Vérification, examen­. Femme, gonzesse. → voir chicks

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set check and chick apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
check
5 ch
chick

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. check (\tʃɛk\) and chick (\tʃɪk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “check” becomes i in “chick”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

check is recorded at frequency rank #11,188, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʃɛk\. chick is at rank #36,306, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʃɪk\.

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 47494, this pair ranks #186,520 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of check vs chick

Shared letters: chk. Private to "check": e. Private to "chick": i.

"check" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "chick" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • checkccheck · cehck · chcek · checck · checkk · chekc · chheck · hceck
  • chickcchick · chcik · chhick · chicck · chickk · chikc · cihck · hcick

Frequency comparison

check#11,188
chick#36,306

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "check" and "chick" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tʃɛk\ versus \tʃɪk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "check" or "chick"?
"check" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,188 in our French list, against #36,306 for "chick". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering check vs chick

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “check” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list