cheminvschemiseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#735
“chemin” frequency rank
#5,224
“chemise” frequency rank
5959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chemin chemise
Definition Voie, route pratiquée pour communiquer, pour aller d’un lieu à un autre. Vêtement en linge ou en laine qu’on porte sur la chair, couvrant le buste et les bras.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
chemin
7 ch
chemise

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. chemin (\ʃə.mɛ̃\) and chemise (\ʃə.miz\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5959, 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\. chemise is at rank #5,224, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.miz\.

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 5959, this pair ranks #427,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chemin vs chemise

Shared letters: cehim. Private to "chemin": n. Private to "chemise": s.

"chemin" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "chemise" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chemincchemin · cehmin · cheimn · cheminn · chemmin · chemni · chhemin · chmein
  • chemisecchemise · cehmise · cheimse · chemies · chemisse · chemmise · chemsie · chhemise

Frequency comparison

chemin#735
chemise#5,224

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chemin" and "chemise" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃə.mɛ̃\ versus \ʃə.miz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chemin" or "chemise"?
"chemin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #735 in our French list, against #5,224 for "chemise". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chemin vs chemise

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chemin” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list