Which to use
“cath” and “chah” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,167
- “cath” frequency rank
- #47,782
- “chah” frequency rank
- 87949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cath | chah |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chat (animal). | Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran. |
Where the eye mixes cath and chah
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cath (CVCC) and chah (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cath with chah
A purely visual mix-up. cath (\kaːθ\) and chah (\ʃa\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cath is recorded at frequency rank #40,167, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaːθ\. chah is at rank #47,782, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\.
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 87949, this pair ranks #7,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cath vs chah
Shared letters: ach. Private to "cath": t. Private to "chah": -.
"cath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "chah" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cath" and "chah" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cath" vs "chah" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chah" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cath" and "chah" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCAS vs chah". 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 #7,620 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.