cauxvschunConfusable pair

Quick tell: caux is a noun, chun is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caux” is a noun and “chun” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,692
“caux” frequency rank
#30,094
“chun” frequency rank
68786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caux chun
Definition Mélange de choux, de navets et de pommes que l’on donne aux vaches et aux cochons. Vers, à : forme alternative de chuig.

Where the eye mixes caux and chun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. caux (CVVC) and chun (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
caux
4 ch
chun

Visual trap between caux and chun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caux is \ko\ while chun is \xʊnˠ\. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caux is recorded at frequency rank #38,692, classified as anoun, pronounced \ko\. chun is at rank #30,094, tagged as aprep, pronounced \xʊnˠ\.

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 68786, this pair ranks #57,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caux vs chun

Shared letters: cu. Private to "caux": ax. Private to "chun": hn.

"caux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "chun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caux ← acux · cauxx · caxu · ccaux · cuax
  • chun ← cchun · chhun · chnu · chunn · cuhn · hcun

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caux" for "chun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caux" is a noun and "chun" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caux" or "chun"?
"chun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,094 in our French list, against #38,692 for "caux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "caux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caux" and "chun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casus vs caux". 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 #57,707 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