chezvsczTell them apart

Quick tell: chez is a preposition, cz is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chez” is a preposition and “cz” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,461
“chez” frequency rank
#38,039
“cz” frequency rank
78500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chez cz
Definition in den (Wohn- oder Arbeits-)räumen von Digraph in der polnischen Sprache

Where the eye mixes chez and cz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. chez runs 4 letters (CCVC) against cz's 2 (CC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
chez
2 ch
cz

Why the eye confuses chez with cz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chez is [ʃe] while cz is [t͡ʃɛ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chez is recorded at frequency rank #40,461, classified as aprep, pronounced [ʃe]. cz is at rank #38,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t͡ʃɛ].

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 78500, this pair ranks #236,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chez vs cz

Shared letters: cz. Private to "chez": eh. Private to "cz": -.

"chez" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "cz" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chez ← cchez · cehz · chezz · chhez · chze · hcez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chez" for "cz" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chez" is a preposition and "cz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "chez" vs "cz" - which ranks higher?
"cz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,039 in our German list, against #40,461 for "chez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chez" and "cz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs cz". 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 #236,970 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