chenillesvschevillesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,205
“chenilles” frequency rank
#15,327
“chevilles” frequency rank
37532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chenilles chevilles
Definition Pluriel de chenille. Pluriel de cheville.

Where the eye mixes chenilles and chevilles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
chenilles
9 ch
chevilles

Look-alike desk: chenilles vs chevilles

A purely visual mix-up. chenilles (\ʃə.nij\) and chevilles (\ʃə.vij\) 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 a single letter - n in “chenilles” becomes v in “chevilles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chenilles is recorded at frequency rank #22,205, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.nij\. chevilles is at rank #15,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.vij\.

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 37532, this pair ranks #261,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chenilles vs chevilles

Shared letters: cehils. Private to "chenilles": n. Private to "chevilles": v.

"chenilles" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "chevilles" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chenillescchenilles · cehnilles · cheinlles · chenilels · cheniles · chenilless · chenillse · chenliles
  • chevillescchevilles · cehvilles · cheivlles · chevilels · cheviles · chevilless · chevillse · chevliles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chenilles" and "chevilles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃə.nij\ versus \ʃə.vij\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chenilles" or "chevilles"?
"chevilles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,327 in our French list, against #22,205 for "chenilles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "chenilles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chevilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chenilles" and "chevilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chelles vs chenilles". 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 #261,829 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list