cheffevschèvreConfusable pair

Which to use

“cheffe” and “chèvre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,879
“cheffe” frequency rank
#8,214
“chèvre” frequency rank
40093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheffe chèvre
Definition Celle qui est à la tête d’un corps ou d’une assemblée, qui y a le premier rang et la principale autorité. Genre de mammifère de l’ordre des ruminants, à cornes creuses et persistantes et à menton garni d’une barbe.

Where the eye mixes cheffe and chèvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cheffe
6 ch
chèvre

Look-alike desk: cheffe vs chèvre

A purely visual mix-up. cheffe (\ʃɛf\) and chèvre (\ʃɛvʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40093, 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\. chèvre is at rank #8,214, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛvʁ\.

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 40093, this pair ranks #243,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cheffe vs chèvre

Shared letters: ceh. Private to "cheffe": f. Private to "chèvre": rvè.

"cheffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "chèvre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheffeccheffe · cehffe · chefe · chefef · chfefe · chheffe · hceffe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cheffe" and "chèvre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛf\ versus \ʃɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cheffe" or "chèvre"?
"chèvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,214 in our French list, against #31,879 for "cheffe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cheffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chèvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cheffe" and "chèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chèvre vs chevreau". 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 #243,098 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