Is there a difference between 中位（ちゅうい） and 中位（ちゅうくらい）?


Ignoring ② [here](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E4%B8%AD%E4%BD%8D), is there
any difference in daily usage/meaning? Is one used more often than another?




Both roughly mean _medium_ , _moderate_ , _average_ , but:

  * 中位（ちゅうい） is a typical [漢語](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_vocabulary) and thus used mainly in technical/scientific/formal contexts. 中くらい is colloquial.

  * 中位（ちゅうい） tends to refer to middle position (in a ranking, hierarchy, etc), while 中くらい tends to refer to physical size/intensity/etc. For example, 中位（ちゅうい）の家 is not something we commonly say, but it sounds like a middle-class family which is not particularly rich nor poor. 中くらいの家 sounds like a physically mid-sized house or a mid-sized family (with, say, 3-4 members). 中位（ちゅうい）の自動車 comes off to me as a car which is not very expensive nor cheap, while 中くらいの自動車 is a car which is not very large nor small. 中位（ちゅうい）のチェスプレーヤー is a chess player ranked roughly in the middle, and 中くらいのチェスプレーヤー would sound odd.




Both roughly mean _medium_ , _moderate_ , _average_ , but:

  * 中位（ちゅうい） is a typical [漢語](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_vocabulary) and thus used mainly in technical/scientific/formal contexts. 中くらい is colloquial.

  * 中位（ちゅうい） tends to refer to middle position (in a ranking, hierarchy, etc), while 中くらい tends to refer to physical size/intensity/etc. For example, 中位（ちゅうい）の家 is not something we commonly say, but it sounds like a middle-class family which is not particularly rich nor poor. 中くらいの家 sounds like a physically mid-sized house or a mid-sized family (with, say, 3-4 members). 中位（ちゅうい）の自動車 comes off to me as a car which is not very expensive nor cheap, while 中くらいの自動車 is a car which is not very large nor small. 中位（ちゅうい）のチェスプレーヤー is a chess player ranked roughly in the middle, and 中くらいのチェスプレーヤー would sound odd.

