Which to use
“calque” is a noun and “choque” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,328
- “calque” frequency rank
- #7,667
- “choque” frequency rank
- 39995
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | calque | choque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Reproduction obtenue en calquant. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de choquer. |
Where the eye mixes calque and choque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: calque vs choque
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calque is \kalk\ while choque is \ʃɔk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
calque is recorded at frequency rank #32,328, classified as anoun, pronounced \kalk\. choque is at rank #7,667, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃɔk\.
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 39995, this pair ranks #243,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of calque vs choque
Shared letters: cequ. Private to "calque": al. Private to "choque": ho.
"calque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "choque" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "calque" and "choque" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "calque" or "choque" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "calque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "choque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "calque" and "choque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calée vs calque". 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 #243,809 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.