chartervschasteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: charter is a noun, chaste is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“charter” is a noun and “chaste” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,757
“charter” frequency rank
#42,791
“chaste” frequency rank
79548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature charter chaste
Definition Avion affrété pour transporter un groupe de personnes à un tarif moindre que celui des lignes ordinaires. Qui s'abstient des plaisirs de la chair.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
charter
6 ch
chaste

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: charter is \ʃaʁ.tɛʁ\ while chaste is \ʃast\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

charter is recorded at frequency rank #36,757, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃaʁ.tɛʁ\. chaste is at rank #42,791, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃast\.

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 79548, this pair ranks #23,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of charter vs chaste

Shared letters: aceht. Private to "charter": r. Private to "chaste": s.

"charter" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "chaste" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chartercahrter · ccharter · charetr · charrter · charterr · chartre · chartter · chatrer
  • chastecahste · cchaste · chaset · chasste · chastte · chatse · chhaste · chsate

Frequency comparison

charter#36,757
chaste#42,791

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "charter" and "chaste" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "charter" is a noun and "chaste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "charter" or "chaste"?
"charter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,757 in our French list, against #42,791 for "chaste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering charter vs chaste

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “charter”; for an adjective, it's “chaste”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “charter” 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