chantrevschanvreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,895
“chantre” frequency rank
#20,388
“chanvre” frequency rank
45283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chantre chanvre
Definition Celui ou celle qui chante aux offices religieux. Plante herbacée, dioïque, dont les fibres de la tige sont utilisés dans la conception textile et dont les inflorescences ont des propriétés psychoactives.

Where the eye mixes chantre and chanvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
chantre
7 ch
chanvre

Why the eye confuses chantre with chanvre

A purely visual mix-up. chantre (\ʃɑ̃tʁ\) and chanvre (\ʃɑ̃vʁ\) 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 a single letter - t in “chantre” becomes v in “chanvre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chantre is recorded at frequency rank #24,895, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃tʁ\. chanvre is at rank #20,388, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɑ̃vʁ\.

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 45283, this pair ranks #203,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chantre vs chanvre

Shared letters: acehnr. Private to "chantre": t. Private to "chanvre": v.

"chantre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV  ·  "chanvre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chantrecahntre · cchantre · channtre · chanrte · chantrre · chanttre · chatnre · chhantre
  • chanvrecahnvre · cchanvre · channvre · chanrve · chanver · chanvrre · chanvvre · chavnre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chantre" and "chanvre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɑ̃tʁ\ versus \ʃɑ̃vʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chantre" vs "chanvre" - which ranks higher?
"chanvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,388 in our French list, against #24,895 for "chantre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chantre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chanvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chantre" and "chanvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chantre vs chantres". 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 #203,946 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