chaudvschauxWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: chaud is a adjective, chaux is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,357
“chaud” frequency rank
#12,530
“chaux” frequency rank
13887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaud chaux
Definition De température plus haute que la normale, de température élevée. Oxyde de calcium, alcalin fort, obtenu par la décarbonatation à haute température, durant un temps long, de roches calcaires (→ voir chaux vive).

Same sound, different letters: chaud vs chaux

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. chaud and chaux follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
chaud
5 ch
chaux

Ear matches; page differs - chaud and chaux

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: chaud and chaux carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʃo\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - d in “chaud” becomes x in “chaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaud is recorded at frequency rank #1,357, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃo\. chaux is at rank #12,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃo\.

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 13887, this pair ranks #399,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chaud vs chaux

Shared letters: achu. Private to "chaud": d. Private to "chaux": x.

"chaud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "chaux" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chaudcahud · cchaud · chadu · chaudd · chhaud · chuad · hcaud
  • chauxcahux · cchaux · chauxx · chaxu · chhaux · chuax · hcaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chaud" and "chaux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chaud" is an adjective and "chaux" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chaud" or "chaux"?
"chaud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,357 in our French list, against #12,530 for "chaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"chaud" and "chaux" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaud" and "chaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chaux". 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 #399,120 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