Which to use
“chah” and “chan” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,782
- “chah” frequency rank
- #9,131
- “chan” frequency rank
- 56913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chah | chan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran. | Langue parlée en Birmanie par les Chans. |
Where the eye mixes chah and chan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chah and chan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: chah vs chan
A purely visual mix-up. chah (\ʃa\) and chan (\tʃan\) 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 a single letter - h in “chah” becomes n in “chan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chah is recorded at frequency rank #47,782, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\. chan is at rank #9,131, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʃan\.
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 56913, this pair ranks #118,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chah vs chan
Shared letters: ach. Private to "chah": -. Private to "chan": n.
"chah" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "chan" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chah" for "chan" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "chah" or "chan" show up more?
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 "chah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #118,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chah" and "chan" 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 #118,179 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.