Which to use
“chef” is a noun and “Cré” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #378
- “chef” frequency rank
- #40,203
- “Cré” frequency rank
- 40581
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chef | Cré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ou Tête. | Ancien nom de la commune française Cré-sur-Loir. |
Where the eye mixes chef and Cré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between chef and Cré
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chef is \ʃɛf\ while Cré is \kʁe\. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chef is recorded at frequency rank #378, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛf\. Cré is at rank #40,203, tagged as aname, pronounced \kʁe\.
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 40581, this pair ranks #239,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chef vs Cré
Shared letters: c. Private to "chef": efh. Private to "Cré": ré.
"chef" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Cré" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- chef ← cchef · cehf · cheff · chfe · chhef · hcef
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chef" for "Cré" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chef" vs "Cré" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chef" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Cré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chef" and "Cré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs Cré". 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 #239,450 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.