célerivschériTell them apart

Quick tell: céleri is a noun, chéri is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“céleri” is a noun and “chéri” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,489
“céleri” frequency rank
#6,062
“chéri” frequency rank
40551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature céleri chéri
Definition Plante herbacée aromatique bisannuelle potagère de la famille des Apiacées de nom scientifique Apium graveolens dont il existe trois cultigroupes. Sincèrement aimé.

Where the eye mixes céleri and chéri

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. céleri runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against chéri's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
céleri
5 ch
chéri

Visual trap between céleri and chéri

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: céleri is \sɛl.ʁi\ while chéri is \ʃe.ʁi\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

céleri is recorded at frequency rank #34,489, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛl.ʁi\. chéri is at rank #6,062, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃe.ʁi\.

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 40551, this pair ranks #239,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of céleri vs chéri

Shared letters: ciré. Private to "céleri": el. Private to "chéri": h.

"céleri" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "chéri" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "céleri" for "chéri" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "céleri" is a noun and "chéri" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "céleri" or "chéri"?
"chéri" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,062 in our French list, against #34,489 for "céleri". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "céleri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chéri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #239,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "céleri" and "chéri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "céleri vs celi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #239,657 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