Which to use
“chaine” and “charge” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,060
- “chaine” frequency rank
- #786
- “charge” frequency rank
- 6846
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaine | charge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante orthographique de chaîne. | Ce qui pèse. |
Where the eye mixes chaine and charge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chaine (CCVVCV) and charge (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses chaine with charge
A purely visual mix-up. chaine (\ʃɛn\) and charge (\ʃaʁʒ\) 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 6846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chaine is recorded at frequency rank #6,060, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛn\. charge is at rank #786, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁʒ\.
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 6846, this pair ranks #425,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chaine vs charge
Shared letters: aceh. Private to "chaine": in. Private to "charge": gr.
"chaine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "charge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chaine" and "charge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chaine" or "charge"?
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 "chaine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "charge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaine" and "charge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaine vs cocaine". 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 #425,031 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.