Which to use
“chaire” and “chairs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,287
- “chaire” frequency rank
- #36,754
- “chairs” frequency rank
- 46041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaire | chairs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de tribune élevée et ordinairement surmontée d’un dais ou baldaquin dans laquelle se place le prêtre ou le pasteur pour prêcher, pour faire quelque lecture aux assistants, etc. | Pluriel de chair. |
Same sound, different letters: chaire vs chairs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. chaire (CCVVCV) and chairs (CCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - chaire / chairs
This is the hard kind. chaire and chairs are pronounced identically (\ʃɛʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “chaire” becomes s in “chairs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chaire is recorded at frequency rank #9,287, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\. chairs is at rank #36,754, 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 46041, this pair ranks #198,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chaire vs chairs
Shared letters: achir. Private to "chaire": e. Private to "chairs": s.
"chaire" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "chairs" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chaire" for "chairs" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chaire" or "chairs"?
After this comparison
"chaire" and "chairs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "chaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chairs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #198,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaire" and "chairs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïds vs chairs". 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 #198,085 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.