chastevschiiteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,791
“chaste” frequency rank
#23,479
“chiite” frequency rank
66270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaste chiite
Definition Qui s'abstient des plaisirs de la chair. Schismatique, en se référant à l’islam.

Where the eye mixes chaste and chiite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chaste (CCVCCV) and chiite (CCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
chaste
6 ch
chiite

Why the eye confuses chaste with chiite

A purely visual mix-up. chaste (\ʃast\) and chiite (\ʃi.it\) 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 66270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaste is recorded at frequency rank #42,791, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃast\. chiite is at rank #23,479, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃi.it\.

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 66270, this pair ranks #68,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chaste vs chiite

Shared letters: ceht. Private to "chaste": as. Private to "chiite": i.

"chaste" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "chiite" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaste ← cahste · cchaste · chaset · chasste · chastte · chatse · chhaste · chsate
  • chiite ← cchiite · chhiite · chiiet · chiitte · chite · chitie · cihite · hciite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chaste" for "chiite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʃast\ versus \ʃi.it\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chaste" or "chiite"?
"chiite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,479 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.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chiite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaste" and "chiite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chapter vs chaste". 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 #68,537 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