Which to use
“chance” and “chape” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #577
- “chance” frequency rank
- #35,422
- “chape” frequency rank
- 35999
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chance | chape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Sorte de manteau long, sans plis et agrafé par devant, allant jusqu’aux talons, que portent l’évêque, le célébrant, les chantres, etc. durant l’office ; se dit aussi du grand manteau de drap ou de serge des chanoines. On nomme aussi ce vêtement un pluvial. |
Where the eye mixes chance and chape
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chance runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against chape's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between chance and chape
A purely visual mix-up. chance (\ʃɑ̃s\) and chape (\ʃap\) 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 35999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chance is recorded at frequency rank #577, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃s\. chape is at rank #35,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃap\.
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 35999, this pair ranks #272,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chance vs chape
Shared letters: aceh. Private to "chance": n. Private to "chape": p.
"chance" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "chape" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chance" and "chape" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "chance" or "chape"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chance" and "chape" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chance" and "chape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chape 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 #272,717 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.