chahvschezWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#47,782
“chah” frequency rank
#129
“chez” frequency rank
47911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chah chez
Definition Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran. 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 chah and chez apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
chah
4 ch
chez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chah is \ʃa\ while chez is \ʃe\. 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 47911, 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\. 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 47911, this pair ranks #183,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chah vs chez

Shared letters: ch. Private to "chah": a. Private to "chez": ez.

"chah" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "chez" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chahcahh · cchah · chahh · chha · chhah · hcah
  • chezcchez · cehz · chezz · chhez · chze · hcez

Frequency comparison

chah#47,782
chez#129

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chah" and "chez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chah" is a noun and "chez" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chah" or "chez"?
"chez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #129 in our French list, against #47,782 for "chah". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering chah vs chez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “chah”; for a preposition, it's “chez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chah” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list