Which to use
“chèques” and “cirques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,841
- “chèques” frequency rank
- #32,746
- “cirques” frequency rank
- 43587
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chèques | cirques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de chèque. | Pluriel de cirque. |
Where the eye mixes chèques and cirques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chèques vs cirques
A purely visual mix-up. chèques (\ʃɛk\) and cirques (\siʁk\) 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 43587, 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\. cirques is at rank #32,746, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siʁk\.
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 43587, this pair ranks #216,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chèques vs cirques
Shared letters: ceqsu. Private to "chèques": hè. Private to "cirques": ir.
"chèques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "cirques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cirques ← ccirques · ciqrues · cirqeus · cirqques · cirquess · cirquse · cirrques · ciruqes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chèques" and "cirques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chèques" vs "cirques" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "chèques" and "cirques" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chèques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cirques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chèques" and "cirques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cirques vs conques". 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 #216,937 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.