chai

\ʃɛ\

/\ʃɛ\/ noun

The verdict

“chai” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #26,999. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,999
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave.

Corpus desk

Index FR-chai · chai · French

chai · rank #26,999 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,999
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cessions

Nearest frequency peer: cessions (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « chai »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « chai » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

chai vs ci
50% similar
chai vs cri
50% similar
chai vs cia
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for chai
PropertyValue
Headwordchai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃɛ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#26,999
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « chai »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).chaise place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « cessions » (#26,998), « chandelles » (#27,000), « centralisée » (#26,997). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chai » est au #26,999. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around chai (IPA \ʃɛ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #26,999 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for chai, with forms such as "cahi", "cchai", and "chhai". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ci", "cri", "cia", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is chai, spelled C-H-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave.
  2. 2
    Petit local de stockage, remise située en dehors de la maison et servant généralement à ranger du bois ou autres choses.
  3. 3
    Lieu d’affinage.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how chai appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. M. Donis, qui a plusieurs navires faisant régulièrement les voyages de l’Inde, les charge tous, pour une certaine partie, de son vin, qu’il soigne comme un père soigne ses enfants, et quand nous visiterons ses chais, qui sont des palais, vous verrez des bouteilles couchées sur des étagères dorées.
  2. Il venait, avec Maddalena, de traverser le vaste chai où une petite voie ferrée allongeait ses rails, sur le sol cimenté. D'énormes foudres, hauts de trois mètres, alignaient leurs cerceaux ovales, d'un bout à l'autre de la galerie.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cahi
  • cchai
  • chhai
  • chia
  • hcai

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chai - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

cahi2cchai1chhai1chia2hcai2
Edit distance from "chai"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chai"?
"chai" is spelled C-H-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɛ\.
What does "chai" mean?
As a noun, "chai" means: Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave.
What words are commonly confused with "chai"?
"chai" is commonly confused with "ci", "cri", "cia". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "chai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chai" is \ʃɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chai" come from?
"chai" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list