cheikvscheikhWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,216
“cheik” frequency rank
#12,336
“cheikh” frequency rank
59552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheik cheikh
Definition Chef de tribu chez les bédouins arabes. Variante de cheik.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cheik and cheikh apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cheik
6 ch
cheikh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cheik (\ʃɛjk\) and cheikh (\ʃɛk\) 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 extra letter(s) - “cheik” sits inside “cheikh”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cheik is recorded at frequency rank #47,216, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛjk\. cheikh is at rank #12,336, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛk\.

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 59552, this pair ranks #102,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cheik vs cheikh

Shared letters: cehik. Private to "cheik": -. Private to "cheikh": -.

"cheik" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "cheikh" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheikccheik · cehik · cheikk · cheki · chheik · chiek · hceik
  • cheikhccheikh · cehikh · cheihk · cheikhh · cheikkh · chekih · chheikh · chiekh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cheik" and "cheikh" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛjk\ versus \ʃɛk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cheik" or "cheikh"?
"cheikh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,336 in our French list, against #47,216 for "cheik". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list