Which to use
“chemin” and “chemins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #735
- “chemin” frequency rank
- #3,240
- “chemins” frequency rank
- 3975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chemin | chemins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Voie, route pratiquée pour communiquer, pour aller d’un lieu à un autre. | Pluriel de chemin. |
Same sound, different letters: chemin vs chemins
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. chemin runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against chemins's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: chemin vs chemins
This is the hard kind. chemin and chemins are pronounced identically (\ʃə.mɛ̃\) 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 extra letter(s) - “chemin” sits inside “chemins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chemin is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.mɛ̃\. chemins is at rank #3,240, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.mɛ̃\.
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 3975, this pair ranks #432,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chemin vs chemins
Shared letters: cehimn. Private to "chemin": -. Private to "chemins": s.
"chemin" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "chemins" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chemin" and "chemins" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "chemin" vs "chemins" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"chemin" and "chemins" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "chemin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chemins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chemin" and "chemins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chemine vs chemins". 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 #432,753 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.