chef
\ʃɛf\
The verdict
“chef” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #378 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #378
- frequency rank, French
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - ou Tête.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chef |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʃɛf\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #378 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chef” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for chef is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɛf\. Corpus data places it at rank #378 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for chef, with forms such as "cchef", "cehf", and "cheff". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "clé", "CPE", "CHR", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is chef, spelled C-H-E-F.
Definition
- 1ou Tête.
- 2Crâne d'un saint.
- 3Article ou point principal.
- 4Motif ou raison d’une action judiciaire. → voir chef d’accusation
- 5Initiative ; responsabilité.
- 6Nom donné au tiers supérieur d’un écu.
- 7Toute partie principale d’un ensemble.
- 8Bout par lequel l’on a commencé la fabrication d'une étoffe.
- 9Partie ventrue d’un muscle.
- 10Petite bande de tissu spécial tissée au départ d’une pièce de tissu.
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchef,cehf,cheff,chfe,chhef,hcef
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chef - 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.
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 "chef"?
What does "chef" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “chef”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-H-E-F - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʃɛf\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “clé” - see the side-by-side comparison. chef vs clé
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.