Which to use
“chais” and “chaises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,299
- “chais” frequency rank
- #9,130
- “chaises” frequency rank
- 45429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chais | chaises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chai (pièce). | Pluriel de chaise. |
Where the eye mixes chais and chaises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chais with chaises
A purely visual mix-up. chais (\ʃɛ\) and chaises (\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 2 extra letter(s) - “chais” sits inside “chaises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chais is recorded at frequency rank #36,299, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛ\. chaises is at rank #9,130, 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 45429, this pair ranks #202,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chais vs chaises
Shared letters: achis. Private to "chais": -. Private to "chaises": e.
"chais" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "chaises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chais" for "chaises" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chais" vs "chaises" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chais" and "chaises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chaises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chais" and "chaises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chais". 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 #202,768 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.