Which to use
“chemise” and “chimie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,224
- “chemise” frequency rank
- #4,218
- “chimie” frequency rank
- 9442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chemise | chimie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vêtement en linge ou en laine qu’on porte sur la chair, couvrant le buste et les bras. | Science qui étudie la composition et les réactions de la matière. La chimie est l’étude des transformations de la matière par opposition à la physique qui est l’étude des états de la matière. |
Where the eye mixes chemise and chimie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chemise runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against chimie's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: chemise vs chimie
A purely visual mix-up. chemise (\ʃə.miz\) and chimie (\ʃi.mi\) 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 9442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chemise is recorded at frequency rank #5,224, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.miz\. chimie is at rank #4,218, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃi.mi\.
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 9442, this pair ranks #416,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chemise vs chimie
Shared letters: cehim. Private to "chemise": s. Private to "chimie": -.
"chemise" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "chimie" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chemise" and "chimie" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "chemise" vs "chimie" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chemise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chimie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chemise" and "chimie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chemine vs chemise". 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 #416,625 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.