Which to use
“champs” and “chats” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,263
- “champs” frequency rank
- #4,055
- “chats” frequency rank
- 6318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | champs | chats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de champ. | Pluriel de chat (animal). |
Where the eye mixes champs and chats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between champs and chats
A purely visual mix-up. champs (\ʃɑ̃\) and chats (\ʃa\) 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 6318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
champs is recorded at frequency rank #2,263, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃\. chats is at rank #4,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa\.
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 6318, this pair ranks #426,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of champs vs chats
Shared letters: achs. Private to "champs": mp. Private to "chats": t.
"champs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "chats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "champs" for "chats" ever safe?
Frequency check: "champs" vs "chats" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "champs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "champs" and "chats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chats". 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 #426,563 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.