Français homophones

cha/chah/chat/chats/shah

"chat" (#1,433 written frequency) beats "chats" (#4,055) in this 5-word /\ʃa\/ cluster. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Frequency splits the cluster

These 5 spellings keep the same /\ʃa\/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "chat" leads at #1,433, with "chats" trailing at #4,055.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "cha" then splits - "cha" (3 letters) vs "chah" (4).
Shared stem "cha" then splits - "cha" (3 letters) vs "chat" (4).
Shared stem "cha" then splits - "cha" (3 letters) vs "chats" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "cha" is 3 letters, "shah" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Single-letter fork: "chah" keeps h, "chat" writes t at letter 4.
Shared stem "cha" then splits - "chah" (4 letters) vs "chats" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "chah" is 4 letters, "shah" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "chat" then splits - "chat" (4 letters) vs "chats" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "chat" is 4 letters, "shah" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "chats" is 5 letters, "shah" is 4; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across cha, chah, chat, chats, shah: ah. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

cha
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCV
Inventory ach · private c
chah
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVC
Inventory ach · private c
chat
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVC
Inventory acht · private ct
chats
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVCC
Inventory achst · private cst
shah
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVC
Inventory ahs · private s

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "cha" when you mean: Vingt-sixième lettre de l’alphabet cyrillique, ш.
Write "chah" when you mean: Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran.
Write "chat" when you mean: Mammifère carnivore félin de taille moyenne, au museau court et arrondi, domestiqué, apprivoisé ou encore à l’état sauvage.
Write "chats" when you mean: Pluriel de chat (animal).
Write "shah" when you mean: Variante orthographique de chah.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

chah ← cahh · cchah · chahh · chha · chhah · hcah
chat ← caht · cchat · chatt · chhat · chta · hcat
chats ← cahts · cchats · chast · chatss · chatts · chhats
shah ← hsah · sahh · shahh · shha · shhah · sshah

Each spelling

cha

noun · /\ʃa\/ · #12,331 frequency

Vingt-sixième lettre de l’alphabet cyrillique, ш.

chah

noun · /\ʃa\/ · #47,782 frequency

Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran.

chat

noun · /\ʃa\/ · #1,433 frequency

Mammifère carnivore félin de taille moyenne, au museau court et arrondi, domestiqué, apprivoisé ou encore à l’état sauvage.

chats

noun · /\ʃa\/ · #4,055 frequency

Pluriel de chat (animal).

shah

noun · /\ʃa\/ · #26,537 frequency

Variante orthographique de chah.