Which to use
“chefs” and “chère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,855
- “chefs” frequency rank
- #2,764
- “chère” frequency rank
- 4619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chefs | chère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chef. | 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 chefs and chère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chefs vs chère
A purely visual mix-up. chefs (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chefs is recorded at frequency rank #1,855, 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 4619, this pair ranks #431,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chefs vs chère
Shared letters: ceh. Private to "chefs": fs. Private to "chère": rè.
"chefs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- chefs ← cchefs · cehfs · cheffs · chefss · chesf · chfes · chhefs · hcefs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chefs" and "chère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "chefs" or "chère" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chefs" 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 #431,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chefs" and "chère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cheney vs chère". 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 #431,142 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.