chapeauvschapeauxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,390
“chapeau” frequency rank
#11,927
“chapeaux” frequency rank
15317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chapeau chapeaux
Definition Coiffe d’homme ou de femme, plus ou moins rigide, avec des bords. Pluriel de chapeau.

Same sound, different letters: chapeau vs chapeaux

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. chapeau runs 7 letters (CCVCVVV) against chapeaux's 8 (CCVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
chapeau
8 ch
chapeaux

Homophone desk: chapeau vs chapeaux

This is the hard kind. chapeau and chapeaux are pronounced identically (\ʃa.po\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chapeau” sits inside “chapeaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chapeau is recorded at frequency rank #3,390, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃa.po\. chapeaux is at rank #11,927, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa.po\.

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 15317, this pair ranks #392,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chapeau vs chapeaux

Shared letters: acehpu. Private to "chapeau": -. Private to "chapeaux": x.

"chapeau" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVV  ·  "chapeaux" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chapeaucahpeau · cchapeau · chaepau · chapaeu · chapeua · chappeau · chhapeau · chpaeau
  • chapeauxcahpeaux · cchapeaux · chaepaux · chapaeux · chapeauxx · chapeaxu · chapeuax · chappeaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chapeau" and "chapeaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʃa.po\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "chapeau" vs "chapeaux" - which ranks higher?
"chapeau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,390 in our French list, against #11,927 for "chapeaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chapeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chapeaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chapeau" and "chapeaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chapeau 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 #392,875 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