Which to use
“chah” and “crau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,782
- “chah” frequency rank
- #44,959
- “crau” frequency rank
- 92741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chah | crau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Titre des monarques de Perse, puis de l’Iran. | Plaine semée de pierres et de galets arrondis, couverte d’une steppe propice aux activités pastorales. |
Where the eye mixes chah and crau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. chah (CCVC) and crau (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses chah with crau
A purely visual mix-up. chah (\ʃa\) and crau (\kʁo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92741, 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\. crau is at rank #44,959, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\.
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 92741, this pair ranks #2,783 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chah vs crau
Shared letters: ac. Private to "chah": h. Private to "crau": ru.
"chah" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chah" for "crau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chah" vs "crau" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "crau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,783 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chah" and "crau" 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 #2,783 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.