Which to use
“chais” and “chat” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,299
- “chais” frequency rank
- #1,433
- “chat” frequency rank
- 37732
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chais | chat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chai (pièce). | Mammifère carnivore félin de taille moyenne, au museau court et arrondi, domestiqué, apprivoisé ou encore à l’état sauvage. |
Where the eye mixes chais and chat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chais and chat
A purely visual mix-up. chais (\ʃɛ\) and chat (\ʃa\) 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 37732, 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\. chat is at rank #1,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\.
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 37732, this pair ranks #260,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chais vs chat
Shared letters: ach. Private to "chais": is. Private to "chat": t.
"chais" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "chat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chais" and "chat" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "chais" or "chat"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "chais" and "chat" 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 "chat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chais" and "chat" 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 #260,323 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.