chaisesvschancesConfusable pair

Which to use

“chaises” and “chances” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,130
“chaises” frequency rank
#2,310
“chances” frequency rank
11440
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaises chances
Definition Pluriel de chaise. Pluriel de chance.

Where the eye mixes chaises and chances

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
chaises
7 ch
chances

Why the eye confuses chaises with chances

A purely visual mix-up. chaises (\ʃɛz\) and chances (\ʃɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaises is recorded at frequency rank #9,130, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛz\. chances is at rank #2,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃s\.

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 11440, this pair ranks #409,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chaises vs chances

Shared letters: acehs. Private to "chaises": i. Private to "chances": n.

"chaises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "chances" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaisescahises · cchaises · chaiess · chaisess · chaisses · chasies · chhaises · chiases
  • chancescahnces · cchances · chacnes · chancces · chancess · chancse · chanecs · channces

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chaises" for "chances" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛz\ versus \ʃɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chaises" vs "chances" - which ranks higher?
"chances" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,310 in our French list, against #9,130 for "chaises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "chaises" and "chances" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaises" and "chances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chaises vs chassées". 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 #409,132 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list