Which to use
“chai” is a noun and “cher” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,999
- “chai” frequency rank
- #682
- “cher” frequency rank
- 27681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chai | cher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave. | Qui est chéri, tendrement aimé, auquel on tient beaucoup. |
Where the eye mixes chai and cher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chai and cher
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chai is \ʃɛ\ while cher is \ʃɛʁ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chai is recorded at frequency rank #26,999, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛ\. cher is at rank #682, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\.
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 27681, this pair ranks #327,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chai vs cher
Shared letters: ch. Private to "chai": ai. Private to "cher": er.
"chai" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "cher" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chai" and "cher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "chai" or "cher" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "chai" and "cher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chai" and "cher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chai". 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 #327,500 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.