chargevscharmeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#786
“charge” frequency rank
#3,444
“charme” frequency rank
4230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charge charme
Definition Ce qui pèse. Qualités aimables, attraits, séduction ou ascendant qu’exercent sur l’imagination les objets qui la frappent vivement et qui produisent sur elle l’admiration, l’enthousiasme.

Where the eye mixes charge and charme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
charge
6 ch
charme

Visual trap between charge and charme

A purely visual mix-up. charge (\ʃaʁʒ\) and charme (\ʃaʁm\) 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 - g in “charge” becomes m in “charme”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charge is recorded at frequency rank #786, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁʒ\. charme is at rank #3,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁm\.

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 4230, this pair ranks #432,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of charge vs charme

Shared letters: acehr. Private to "charge": g. Private to "charme": m.

"charge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "charme" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chargecahrge · ccharge · chagre · chareg · chargge · charrge · chharge · chrage
  • charmecahrme · ccharme · chamre · charem · charmme · charrme · chharme · chrame

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "charge" and "charme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʃaʁʒ\ versus \ʃaʁm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "charge" or "charme"?
"charge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #786 in our French list, against #3,444 for "charme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "charge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "charme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #432,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "charge" and "charme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "charme vs charmée". 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 #432,133 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