Which to use
“cher” is an adjective and “chèvre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #682
- “cher” frequency rank
- #8,214
- “chèvre” frequency rank
- 8896
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cher | chèvre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est chéri, tendrement aimé, auquel on tient beaucoup. | Genre de mammifère de l’ordre des ruminants, à cornes creuses et persistantes et à menton garni d’une barbe. |
Where the eye mixes cher and chèvre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cher vs chèvre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cher is \ʃɛʁ\ while chèvre is \ʃɛvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cher is recorded at frequency rank #682, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\. chèvre is at rank #8,214, 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 8896, this pair ranks #418,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cher vs chèvre
Shared letters: cehr. Private to "cher": -. Private to "chèvre": vè.
"cher" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "chèvre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cher ← ccher · cehr · cherr · chher · chre · hcer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cher" and "chèvre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cher" or "chèvre"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chèvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cher" and "chèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chèvre vs chevreau". 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 #418,502 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.