Which to use
“chaire” and “chaise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,287
- “chaire” frequency rank
- #4,133
- “chaise” frequency rank
- 13420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaire | chaise |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Siège avec dossier, sans accoudoirs. |
Where the eye mixes chaire and chaise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chaire and chaise follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses chaire with chaise
A purely visual mix-up. chaire (\ʃɛʁ\) and chaise (\ʃɛz\) 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 a single letter - r in “chaire” becomes s in “chaise”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13420, 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\. chaise is at rank #4,133, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛz\.
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 13420, this pair ranks #401,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chaire vs chaise
Shared letters: acehi. Private to "chaire": r. Private to "chaise": s.
"chaire" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "chaise" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chaire" for "chaise" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chaire" vs "chaise" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chaise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaire" and "chaise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaire vs charrie". 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 #401,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.