chainevschargeWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chaine and charge apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
chaine
6 ch
charge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • chainecahine · cchaine · chaien · chainne · chanie · chhaine · chiane · hcaine
  • chargecahrge · ccharge · chagre · chareg · chargge · charrge · chharge · chrage

Frequency comparison

chaine#6,060
charge#786

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chaine" and "charge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛn\ versus \ʃaʁʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chaine" or "charge"?
"charge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #786 in our French list, against #6,060 for "chaine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chaine vs charge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chaine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list