chancesvschanceuseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,310
“chances” frequency rank
#26,292
“chanceuse” frequency rank
28602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chances chanceuse
Definition Pluriel de chance. Personne favorisée par la chance.

Where the eye mixes chances and chanceuse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. chances runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against chanceuse's 9 (CCVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
chances
9 ch
chanceuse

Why the eye confuses chances with chanceuse

A purely visual mix-up. chances (\ʃɑ̃s\) and chanceuse (\ʃɑ̃.søz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chances is recorded at frequency rank #2,310, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃s\. chanceuse is at rank #26,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃.søz\.

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 28602, this pair ranks #321,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chances vs chanceuse

Shared letters: acehns. Private to "chances": -. Private to "chanceuse": u.

"chances" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "chanceuse" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chances ← cahnces · cchances · chacnes · chancces · chancess · chancse · chanecs · channces
  • chanceuse ← cahnceuse · cchanceuse · chacneuse · chancceuse · chancesue · chanceues · chanceusse · chancuese

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chances" and "chanceuse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɑ̃s\ versus \ʃɑ̃.søz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "chances" or "chanceuse" show up more?
"chances" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,310 in our French list, against #26,292 for "chanceuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "chances" and "chanceuse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chanceuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #321,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chances" and "chanceuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chanceuse vs chasseuse". 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 #321,780 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list