carrémentvschèrementWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,387
“carrément” frequency rank
#46,065
“chèrement” frequency rank
49452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carrément chèrement
Definition D’une manière carrée, à angles droits. Tendrement, avec beaucoup d’affection, avec beaucoup d’amour.

Where the eye mixes carrément and chèrement

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

9 ch
carrément
9 ch
chèrement

Look-alike desk: carrément vs chèrement

A purely visual mix-up. carrément (\ka.ʁe.mɑ̃\) and chèrement (\ʃɛʁ.mɑ̃\) 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 49452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carrément is recorded at frequency rank #3,387, classified as anadv, pronounced \ka.ʁe.mɑ̃\. chèrement is at rank #46,065, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.mɑ̃\.

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 49452, this pair ranks #170,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carrément vs chèrement

Shared letters: cemnrt. Private to "carrément": . Private to "chèrement": .

"carrément" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "chèrement" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carrément" and "chèrement" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʁe.mɑ̃\ versus \ʃɛʁ.mɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "carrément" vs "chèrement" - which ranks higher?
"carrément" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,387 in our French list, against #46,065 for "chèrement". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "carrément" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chèrement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #170,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carrément" and "chèrement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chargement vs chèrement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #170,550 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