Which to use
“chain” and “chaise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,689
- “chain” frequency rank
- #4,133
- “chaise” frequency rank
- 33822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chain | chaise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chaîne. | Siège avec dossier, sans accoudoirs. |
Where the eye mixes chain and chaise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chain runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against chaise's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: chain vs chaise
A purely visual mix-up. chain (\t͡ʃeɪn\) and chaise (\ʃɛz\) 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 33822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chain is recorded at frequency rank #29,689, classified as anoun, pronounced \t͡ʃeɪn\. chaise is at rank #4,133, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛz\.
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 33822, this pair ranks #288,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chain vs chaise
Shared letters: achi. Private to "chain": n. Private to "chaise": es.
"chain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "chaise" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chain" and "chaise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chain" vs "chaise" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chain" and "chaise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chaise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #288,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chain" and "chaise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chain". 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 #288,049 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.