chausséevschausséesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,223
“chaussée” frequency rank
#18,147
“chaussées” frequency rank
23370
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chaussée chaussées
Definition Sorte de talus qu’on fait au bord d’une rivière, d’un étang, pour retenir l’eau. Féminin pluriel de chaussé.

Same sound, different letters: chaussée vs chaussées

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. chaussée runs 8 letters (CCVVCCVV) against chaussées's 9 (CCVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
chaussée
9 ch
chaussées

Same sound, different spelling - chaussée / chaussées

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: chaussée and chaussées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʃo.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chaussée” sits inside “chaussées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chaussée is recorded at frequency rank #5,223, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃo.se\. chaussées is at rank #18,147, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃo.se\.

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 23370, this pair ranks #352,880 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chaussée vs chaussées

Shared letters: acehsué. Private to "chaussée": -. Private to "chaussées": -.

"chaussée" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVV  ·  "chaussées" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chaussée" for "chaussées" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chaussée" is a noun and "chaussées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "chaussée" vs "chaussées" - which ranks higher?
"chaussée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,223 in our French list, against #18,147 for "chaussées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chaussée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chaussées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #352,880 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chaussée" and "chaussées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chassées vs chaussées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #352,880 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