cheikhvschèquesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,336
“cheikh” frequency rank
#10,841
“chèques” frequency rank
23177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheikh chèques
Definition Variante de cheik. Pluriel de chèque.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cheikh and chèques apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
cheikh
7 ch
chèques

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. cheikh and chèques are pronounced identically (\ʃɛk\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cheikh is recorded at frequency rank #12,336, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛk\. chèques is at rank #10,841, 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 23177, this pair ranks #353,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cheikh vs chèques

Shared letters: ceh. Private to "cheikh": ik. Private to "chèques": qsuè.

"cheikh" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "chèques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheikhccheikh · cehikh · cheihk · cheikhh · cheikkh · chekih · chheikh · chiekh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cheikh" and "chèques" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʃɛk\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "cheikh" or "chèques"?
"chèques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,841 in our French list, against #12,336 for "cheikh". 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