Which to use
“chais” and “crains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,299
- “chais” frequency rank
- #8,223
- “crains” frequency rank
- 44522
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chais | crains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chai (pièce). | Pluriel de crain. |
Where the eye mixes chais and crains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chais runs 5 letters (CCVVC) 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 chais with crains
A purely visual mix-up. chais (\ʃɛ\) 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 44522, 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\. 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 44522, this pair ranks #209,851 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chais vs crains
Shared letters: acis. Private to "chais": h. Private to "crains": nr.
"chais" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "crains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chais" and "crains" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chais" vs "crains" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chais" 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 #209,851 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chais" and "crains" 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 #209,851 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.