chargéevscharitéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,739
“chargée” frequency rank
#6,379
“charité” frequency rank
10118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chargée charité
Definition Celle qui est responsable d’une charge. Ne s’utilise guère que dans les expressions : Vertu théologale, amour que l’on ressent pour Dieu, pour le bien et pour son prochain.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
chargée
7 ch
charité

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chargée (\ʃaʁ.ʒe\) and charité (\ʃa.ʁi.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chargée is recorded at frequency rank #3,739, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁ.ʒe\. charité is at rank #6,379, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃa.ʁi.te\.

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 10118, this pair ranks #414,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chargée vs charité

Shared letters: achré. Private to "chargée": eg. Private to "charité": it.

"chargée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV  ·  "charité" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

chargée#3,739
charité#6,379

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chargée" and "charité" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃaʁ.ʒe\ versus \ʃa.ʁi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chargée" or "charité"?
"chargée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,739 in our French list, against #6,379 for "charité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chargée vs charité

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 “chargée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list