Which to use
“châle” and “child” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,170
- “châle” frequency rank
- #23,798
- “child” frequency rank
- 56968
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | châle | child |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cape féminine consistant en un carré de tissu qu'on met sur son dos et ses épaules pour se tenir au chaud. | Enfant (fils ou fille). Note d’usage : Utilisé généralement dans une construction possessive. |
Where the eye mixes châle and child
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. châle (CCVCV) and child (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: châle vs child
A purely visual mix-up. châle (\ʃɑl\) and child (\ˈtʃaɪld\) 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 56968, 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\. child is at rank #23,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈtʃaɪld\.
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 56968, this pair ranks #117,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of châle vs child
Shared letters: chl. Private to "châle": eâ. Private to "child": di.
"châle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "child" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- child ← cchild · chhild · chidl · childd · chilld · chlid · cihld · hcild
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "châle" and "child" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "châle" or "child" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "châle" and "child" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "châle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "child" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #117,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "châle" and "child" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "châle vs chapel". 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 #117,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.