Which to use
“cheminée” and “cheminées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,671
- “cheminée” frequency rank
- #18,957
- “cheminées” frequency rank
- 27628
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cheminée | cheminées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Construction abritant un âtre, où l’on fait du feu, et comportant un conduit pour donner issue à la fumée. | Pluriel de cheminée. |
Same sound, different letters: cheminée vs cheminées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. cheminée runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVV) against cheminées's 9 (CCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: cheminée vs cheminées
This is the hard kind. cheminée and cheminées are pronounced identically (\ʃə.mi.ne\) 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) - “cheminée” sits inside “cheminées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cheminée is recorded at frequency rank #8,671, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.mi.ne\. cheminées is at rank #18,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.mi.ne\.
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 27628, this pair ranks #327,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cheminée vs cheminées
Shared letters: cehimné. Private to "cheminée": -. Private to "cheminées": s.
"cheminée" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV · "cheminées" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cheminée" and "cheminées" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cheminée" or "cheminées"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "cheminée" / "cheminées". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "cheminée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cheminées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cheminée" and "cheminées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chemine vs cheminées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #327,832 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.