chèquesvschèvresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,841
“chèques” frequency rank
#13,540
“chèvres” frequency rank
24381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chèques chèvres
Definition Pluriel de chèque. Pluriel de chèvre.

Where the eye mixes chèques and chèvres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chèques (CCVCVVC) and chèvres (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
chèques
7 ch
chèvres

Visual trap between chèques and chèvres

A purely visual mix-up. chèques (\ʃɛk\) and chèvres (\ʃɛvʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chèques is recorded at frequency rank #10,841, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛk\. chèvres is at rank #13,540, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛvʁ\.

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 24381, this pair ranks #346,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chèques vs chèvres

Shared letters: cehsè. Private to "chèques": qu. Private to "chèvres": rv.

"chèques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "chèvres" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chèques" and "chèvres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛk\ versus \ʃɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "chèques" or "chèvres" show up more?
"chèques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,841 in our French list, against #13,540 for "chèvres". 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 "chèques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chèvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #346,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chèques" and "chèvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chevreau vs chèvres". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #346,938 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