châlevschanceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,170
“châle” frequency rank
#577
“chance” frequency rank
33747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature châle chance
Definition Cape féminine consistant en un carré de tissu qu'on met sur son dos et ses épaules pour se tenir au chaud. Concours de circonstances jugé malheureux ou heureux quant à son influence sur le succès, la réalisation, la réussite ou l’échec d’une action ou d’un événement ; contexte jugé favorable ou non d’une action.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set châle and chance apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
châle
6 ch
chance

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. châle (\ʃɑl\) and chance (\ʃɑ̃s\) 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 33747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

châle is recorded at frequency rank #33,170, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑl\. chance is at rank #577, 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 33747, this pair ranks #288,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of châle vs chance

Shared letters: ceh. Private to "châle": . Private to "chance": an.

"châle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chance" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chancecahnce · cchance · chacne · chancce · chanec · channce · chhance · chnace

Frequency comparison

châle#33,170
chance#577

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "châle" and "chance" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɑl\ versus \ʃɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "châle" or "chance"?
"chance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #577 in our French list, against #33,170 for "châle". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering châle vs chance

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “châle” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list