chancevscréanceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#577
“chance” frequency rank
#23,163
“créance” frequency rank
23740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chance créance
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. Action de croire ou de se fier à.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chance and créance apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
chance
7 ch
créance

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chance (\ʃɑ̃s\) and créance (\kʁe.ɑ̃s\) 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 23740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chance is recorded at frequency rank #577, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃s\. créance is at rank #23,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁe.ɑ̃s\.

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 23740, this pair ranks #350,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chance vs créance

Shared letters: acen. Private to "chance": h. Private to "créance": .

"chance" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "créance" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequency comparison

chance#577
créance#23,163

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chance" and "créance" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɑ̃s\ versus \kʁe.ɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chance" or "créance"?
"chance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #577 in our French list, against #23,163 for "créance". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering chance vs créance

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 “chance” 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