charitévscharityWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,379
“charité” frequency rank
#49,548
“charity” frequency rank
55927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charité charity
Definition Vertu théologale, amour que l’on ressent pour Dieu, pour le bien et pour son prochain. Charité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set charité and charity apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
charité
7 ch
charity

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. charité (\ʃa.ʁi.te\) and charity (\ˈt͡ʃæɹ.ɪ.ti\) 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 - é in “charité” becomes y in “charity”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charité is recorded at frequency rank #6,379, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃa.ʁi.te\. charity is at rank #49,548, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈt͡ʃæɹ.ɪ.ti\.

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 55927, this pair ranks #124,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of charité vs charity

Shared letters: achirt. Private to "charité": é. Private to "charity": y.

"charité" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "charity" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • charitycahrity · ccharity · chairty · charitty · charityy · chariyt · charrity · chartiy

Frequency comparison

charité#6,379
charity#49,548

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "charité" and "charity" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃa.ʁi.te\ versus \ˈt͡ʃæɹ.ɪ.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "charité" or "charity"?
"charité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,379 in our French list, against #49,548 for "charity". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering charité vs charity

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 “charité” 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