cafévscheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: café is a noun, che is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“café” is a noun and “che” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,432
“café” frequency rank
#10,657
“che” frequency rank
12089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature café che
Definition Graines de caféier, ou poudre formée de ces grains torréfiés et moulus. Variante de ce.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set café and che apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
café
3 ch
che

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: café is anoun and cheapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

café is recorded at frequency rank #1,432, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.fe\. che is at rank #10,657, tagged as apron.

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 12089, this pair ranks #406,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of café vs che

Shared letters: c. Private to "café": afé. Private to "che": eh.

"café" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "che" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequency comparison

café#1,432
che#10,657

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "café" and "che" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "café" is a noun and "che" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "café" or "che"?
"café" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,432 in our French list, against #10,657 for "che". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering café vs che

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “café”; for a pronoun, it's “che”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “café” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list