Which to use
“chaises” and “clauses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,130
- “chaises” frequency rank
- #12,742
- “clauses” frequency rank
- 21872
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chaises | clauses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chaise. | Pluriel de clause. |
Where the eye mixes chaises and clauses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses chaises with clauses
A purely visual mix-up. chaises (\ʃɛz\) and clauses (\kloz\) 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 21872, 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\. clauses is at rank #12,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kloz\.
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 21872, this pair ranks #361,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chaises vs clauses
Shared letters: aces. Private to "chaises": hi. Private to "clauses": lu.
"chaises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "clauses" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chaises" and "clauses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chaises" or "clauses"?
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 "chaises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clauses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chaises" and "clauses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs clauses". 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 #361,005 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.