Choose the member of each set that you would expect to be more soluble in water. Explain your answer.

Question

Chloroform, CH3Cl, or hydrogen chloride.
My gut instinct was HCl, however I'm not sure why [or if] it's more soluble than CH3Cl.

Of course HCl is more soluble in water than chloroform. HCl is highly polar and the reaction with water is
HCl(g) + H2O ==> H3O^+ + Cl^-
You've seen hydrochloric acid in the lab and read about it in your text so you must know it's soluble. Your gut instinct is good but in most classes that won't get any points unless you can tell WHY.