Which to use
“cheminée” and “chemises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,671
- “cheminée” frequency rank
- #11,539
- “chemises” frequency rank
- 20210
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cheminée | chemises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Construction abritant un âtre, où l’on fait du feu, et comportant un conduit pour donner issue à la fumée. | Pluriel de chemise. |
Where the eye mixes cheminée and chemises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cheminée (CCVCVCVV) and chemises (CCVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cheminée with chemises
A purely visual mix-up. cheminée (\ʃə.mi.ne\) and chemises (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20210, 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\. chemises is at rank #11,539, 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 20210, this pair ranks #369,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cheminée vs chemises
Shared letters: cehim. Private to "cheminée": né. Private to "chemises": s.
"cheminée" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV · "chemises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chemises ← cchemises · cehmises · cheimses · chemiess · chemisess · chemisses · chemmises · chemsies
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cheminée" and "chemises" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cheminée" vs "chemises" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cheminée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chemises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cheminée" and "chemises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chemine vs chemises". 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 #369,425 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.