Which to use
“cheffe” and “chère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,879
- “cheffe” frequency rank
- #2,764
- “chère” frequency rank
- 34643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cheffe | chère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celle qui est à la tête d’un corps ou d’une assemblée, qui y a le premier rang et la principale autorité. | Personne considérée comme chère, qui est tenu avec une affectueuse haute estime ou, par ironie, à qui est adressée une forme de dédain. |
Where the eye mixes cheffe and chère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cheffe with chère
A purely visual mix-up. cheffe (\ʃɛf\) and chère (\ʃɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cheffe is recorded at frequency rank #31,879, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛf\. chère is at rank #2,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\.
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 34643, this pair ranks #282,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cheffe vs chère
Shared letters: ceh. Private to "cheffe": f. Private to "chère": rè.
"cheffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cheffe ← ccheffe · cehffe · chefe · chefef · chfefe · chheffe · hceffe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cheffe" for "chère" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cheffe" or "chère" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cheffe" and "chère" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cheffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cheffe" and "chère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheese vs cheffe". 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 #282,401 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.