chavschauxConfusable pair

Which to use

“cha” and “chaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,331
“cha” frequency rank
#12,530
“chaux” frequency rank
24861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cha chaux
Definition Vingt-sixième lettre de l’alphabet cyrillique, ш. Oxyde de calcium, alcalin fort, obtenu par la décarbonatation à haute température, durant un temps long, de roches calcaires (→ voir chaux vive).

Where the eye mixes cha and chaux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
cha
5 ch
chaux

Look-alike desk: cha vs chaux

A purely visual mix-up. cha (\ʃa\) and chaux (\ʃo\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cha” sits inside “chaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cha is recorded at frequency rank #12,331, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\. chaux is at rank #12,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃo\.

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 24861, this pair ranks #344,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cha vs chaux

Shared letters: ach. Private to "cha": -. Private to "chaux": ux.

"cha" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "chaux" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chauxcahux · cchaux · chauxx · chaxu · chhaux · chuax · hcaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cha" and "chaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʃa\ versus \ʃo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cha" vs "chaux" - which ranks higher?
"cha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,331 in our French list, against #12,530 for "chaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cha" and "chaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #344,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cha" and "chaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cha". 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 #344,157 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