chaivschoixConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#26,999
“chai” frequency rank
#399
“choix” frequency rank
27398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chai choix
Definition Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave. Action de choisir.

Where the eye mixes chai and choix

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

4 ch
chai
5 ch
choix

Why the eye confuses chai with choix

A purely visual mix-up. chai (\ʃɛ\) and choix (\ʃwa\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27398, 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\. choix is at rank #399, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃwa\.

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 27398, this pair ranks #329,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chai vs choix

Shared letters: chi. Private to "chai": a. Private to "choix": ox.

"chai" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "choix" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaicahi · cchai · chhai · chia · hcai
  • choixcchoix · chhoix · chiox · choixx · choxi · cohix · hcoix

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chai" and "choix" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛ\ versus \ʃwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chai" vs "choix" - which ranks higher?
"choix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #399 in our French list, against #26,999 for "chai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "chai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "choix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #329,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chai" and "choix" 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 #329,256 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