Chlef
\ʃmef\
The verdict
“Chlef” is uncommon French (frequency #53,203 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,203
- frequency rank, French
- 8,609
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ville du Nord de l’Algérie, entre Alger et Oran.
Corpus desk
Index FR-chlef · Chlef · French
Chlef · rank #53,203 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #53,203
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 8,609
- PHOTO-FINISH Chimène
Nearest frequency peer: Chimène (-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.
Rangs de longue queue près de « Chlef »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- chieur
chieur
46,800 corpus weight
- Chimène
Chimène
46,799 corpus weight
- Chlef
Chlef
46,798 corpus weight
- choquants
choquants
46,797 corpus weight
- châtains
châtains
46,796 corpus weight
- circuiter
circuiter
46,795 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « Chlef » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Chlef |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | \ʃmef\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #53,203 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « Chlef » en français
Rare enough to double-check
Chlef is uncommon French at frequency #53,203 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \ʃmef\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Chlef, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is Chlef, spelled C-H-L-E-F.
Definition
- 1Ville du Nord de l’Algérie, entre Alger et Oran.
- 2Wilaya dont cette ville est le chef-lieu.
Synonyms
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 "Chlef"?
What does "Chlef" mean?
How do you pronounce "Chlef"?
What language does "Chlef" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Chlef", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).