cecvschezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cec is a adjective, chez is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cec” is an adjective and “chez” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,636
“cec” frequency rank
#129
“chez” frequency rank
46765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cec chez
Definition Aveugle. Dans la maison de, au logis de ; associé au lieu de résidence ou d'activité d'une personne.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cec and chez apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
cec
4 ch
chez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cec is \ˈsek\ while chez is \ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cec is recorded at frequency rank #46,636, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈsek\. chez is at rank #129, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ʃe\.

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 46765, this pair ranks #192,270 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cec vs chez

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cec": -. Private to "chez": hz.

"cec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "chez" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chezcchez · cehz · chezz · chhez · chze · hcez

Frequency comparison

cec#46,636
chez#129

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cec" and "chez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cec" is an adjective and "chez" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cec" or "chez"?
"chez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #129 in our French list, against #46,636 for "cec". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cec vs chez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cec”; for a preposition, it's “chez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cec” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list