Which to use
“carrières” and “charnières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,351
- “carrières” frequency rank
- #46,643
- “charnières” frequency rank
- 54994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carrières | charnières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de carrière. | Pluriel de charnière. |
Where the eye mixes carrières and charnières
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. carrières runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against charnières's 10 (CCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses carrières with charnières
A purely visual mix-up. carrières (\ka.ʁjɛʁ\) and charnières (\ʃaʁ.njɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carrières is recorded at frequency rank #8,351, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁjɛʁ\. charnières is at rank #46,643, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁ.njɛʁ\.
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 54994, this pair ranks #130,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carrières vs charnières
Shared letters: aceirsè. Private to "carrières": -. Private to "charnières": hn.
"carrières" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC · "charnières" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carrières" for "charnières" ever safe?
Frequency check: "carrières" vs "charnières" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "carrières" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "charnières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carrières" and "charnières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "charnier vs charnières". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #130,323 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.