Which to use
“chaînes” and “chaires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,665
- “chaînes” frequency rank
- #38,196
- “chaires” frequency rank
- 41861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaînes | chaires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chaîne. | Pluriel de chaire. |
Where the eye mixes chaînes and chaires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chaînes and chaires follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: chaînes vs chaires
A purely visual mix-up. chaînes (\ʃɛn\) and chaires (\ʃɛʁ\) 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 41861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chaînes is recorded at frequency rank #3,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛn\. chaires is at rank #38,196, tagged as anoun, 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 41861, this pair ranks #229,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chaînes vs chaires
Shared letters: acehs. Private to "chaînes": nî. Private to "chaires": ir.
"chaînes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "chaires" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chaires ← cchaires · chairess · chairres · chairse · charies · chhaires · chiares · hcaires
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chaînes" for "chaires" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "chaînes" or "chaires" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chaînes" and "chaires" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chaînes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chaires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaînes" and "chaires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaires vs chantres". 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 #229,956 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.