caissesvschaisesConfusable pair

Which to use

“caisses” and “chaises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,322
“caisses” frequency rank
#9,130
“chaises” frequency rank
14452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisses chaises
Definition Pluriel de caisse. Pluriel de chaise.

Where the eye mixes caisses and chaises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
caisses
7 ch
chaises

Why the eye confuses caisses with chaises

A purely visual mix-up. caisses (\kɛs\) and chaises (\ʃɛz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caisses is recorded at frequency rank #5,322, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛs\. chaises is at rank #9,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛz\.

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 14452, this pair ranks #396,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caisses vs chaises

Shared letters: aceis. Private to "caisses": -. Private to "chaises": h.

"caisses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "chaises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caissesacisses · caisess · caissess · caissse · casises · ccaisses · ciasses
  • chaisescahises · cchaises · chaiess · chaisess · chaisses · chasies · chhaises · chiases

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caisses" and "chaises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɛs\ versus \ʃɛz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caisses" vs "chaises" - which ranks higher?
"caisses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,322 in our French list, against #9,130 for "chaises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caisses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisses" and "chaises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaises vs chassées". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #396,581 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list