Which to use
“chars” and “chère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,971
- “chars” frequency rank
- #2,764
- “chère” frequency rank
- 11735
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chars | chère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de char. | Personne considérée comme chère, qui est tenu avec une affectueuse haute estime ou, par ironie, à qui est adressée une forme de dédain. |
Where the eye mixes chars and chère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chars and chère
A purely visual mix-up. chars (\ʃaʁ\) and chère (\ʃɛʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chars is recorded at frequency rank #8,971, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁ\. chère is at rank #2,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\.
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 11735, this pair ranks #408,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chars vs chère
Shared letters: chr. Private to "chars": as. Private to "chère": eè.
"chars" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- chars ← cahrs · cchars · charrs · charss · chasr · chhars · chras · hcars
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chars" and "chère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chars" or "chère"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chars" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chars" and "chère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chars". 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 #408,024 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.