Which to use
“chemins” is a noun and “crétins” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,240
- “chemins” frequency rank
- #16,333
- “crétins” frequency rank
- 19573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chemins | crétins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chemin. | Masculin pluriel de crétin. |
Where the eye mixes chemins and crétins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chemins and crétins follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: chemins vs crétins
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chemins is \ʃə.mɛ̃\ while crétins is \kʁe.tɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chemins is recorded at frequency rank #3,240, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.mɛ̃\. crétins is at rank #16,333, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁe.tɛ̃\.
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 19573, this pair ranks #372,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chemins vs crétins
Shared letters: cins. Private to "chemins": ehm. Private to "crétins": rté.
"chemins" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "crétins" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chemins ← cchemins · cehmins · cheimns · cheminns · cheminss · chemisn · chemmins · chemnis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chemins" for "crétins" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chemins" or "crétins"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chemins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crétins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chemins" and "crétins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "créons vs crétins". 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 #372,596 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.