Which to use
“chance” is a noun and “chauve” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #577
- “chance” frequency rank
- #8,355
- “chauve” frequency rank
- 8932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chance | chauve |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Qui n’a plus de cheveux, ou n’en a guère. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chance and chauve apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
chance and chauve form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chance is recorded at frequency rank #577, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃s\. chauve is at rank #8,355, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃov\.
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 8932, this pair ranks #418,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chance" and "chauve" be used interchangeably?
Remembering chance vs chauve
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “chance”; for an adjective, it's “chauve”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chance” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable