Which to use
“chaînes” and “crains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,665
- “chaînes” frequency rank
- #8,223
- “crains” frequency rank
- 11888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaînes | crains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chaîne. | Pluriel de crain. |
Where the eye mixes chaînes and crains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chaînes runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against crains's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chaînes with crains
A purely visual mix-up. chaînes (\ʃɛn\) and crains (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 11888, 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\. crains is at rank #8,223, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\.
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 11888, this pair ranks #407,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chaînes vs crains
Shared letters: acns. Private to "chaînes": ehî. Private to "crains": ir.
"chaînes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "crains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- crains ← carins · ccrains · crainns · crainss · craisn · cranis · crians · crrains
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chaînes" for "crains" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "chaînes" or "crains" show up more?
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 "chaînes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaînes" and "crains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïds vs crains". 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 #407,433 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.