CesvschefWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,690
“Ces” frequency rank
#1,029
“chef” frequency rank
36719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ces chef
Definition Ton mit 495 Hz und alle Töne im Oktavabstand dazu, um einen Halbton vermindertes C gewerblich und versiert kochende Person

Where the eye mixes Ces and chef

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Ces
4 ch
chef

Visual trap between Ces and chef

A purely visual mix-up. Ces ([t͡sɛs]) and chef ([ʃɛf]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ces is recorded at frequency rank #35,690, classified as anoun, pronounced [t͡sɛs]. chef is at rank #1,029, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃɛf].

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 36719, this pair ranks #1,608,447 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ces vs chef

Shared letters: ce. Private to "Ces": s. Private to "chef": fh.

"Ces" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "chef" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chefcchef · cehf · cheff · chfe · chhef · hcef

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ces" and "chef" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t͡sɛs] versus [ʃɛf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ces" vs "chef" - which ranks higher?
"chef" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,029 in our German list, against #35,690 for "Ces". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chef" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,608,447 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ces" and "chef" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs Ces". 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 #1,608,447 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list