Which to use
“chauve” and “chauves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,355
- “chauve” frequency rank
- #20,083
- “chauves” frequency rank
- 28438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chauve | chauves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’a plus de cheveux, ou n’en a guère. | Pluriel de chauve. |
Same sound, different letters: chauve vs chauves
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Homophone desk: chauve vs chauves
This is the hard kind. chauve and chauves are pronounced identically (\ʃov\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chauve” sits inside “chauves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chauve is recorded at frequency rank #8,355, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃov\. chauves is at rank #20,083, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃov\.
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 28438, this pair ranks #322,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chauve vs chauves
Shared letters: acehuv. Private to "chauve": -. Private to "chauves": s.
"chauve" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "chauves" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chauve" for "chauves" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chauve" vs "chauves" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "chauve" / "chauves". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "chauve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chauves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chauve" and "chauves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chauves vs Chávez". 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 #322,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.