chargesvschartesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,465
“charges” frequency rank
#17,369
“chartes” frequency rank
19834
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charges chartes
Definition Pluriel de charge. Pluriel de charte.

Where the eye mixes charges and chartes

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

7 ch
charges
7 ch
chartes

Why the eye confuses charges with chartes

A purely visual mix-up. charges (\ʃaʁʒ\) and chartes (\ʃaʁt\) 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 “charges” becomes t in “chartes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19834, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charges is recorded at frequency rank #2,465, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁʒ\. chartes is at rank #17,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁt\.

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 19834, this pair ranks #371,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of charges vs chartes

Shared letters: acehrs. Private to "charges": g. Private to "chartes": t.

"charges" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "chartes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chargescahrges · ccharges · chagres · charegs · chargess · chargges · chargse · charrges
  • chartescahrtes · cchartes · chartess · chartse · charttes · chatres · chhartes · chrates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "charges" and "chartes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃaʁʒ\ versus \ʃaʁt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "charges" vs "chartes" - which ranks higher?
"charges" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,465 in our French list, against #17,369 for "chartes". 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 "charges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chartes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #371,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "charges" and "chartes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "charmée vs chartes". 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 #371,313 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