Which to use
“chercha” and “cherchais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,880
- “chercha” frequency rank
- #10,838
- “cherchais” frequency rank
- 42718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chercha | cherchais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe chercher. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe chercher. |
Where the eye mixes chercha and cherchais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chercha vs cherchais
A purely visual mix-up. chercha (\ʃɛʁ.ʃa\) and cherchais (\ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “chercha” sits inside “cherchais”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chercha is recorded at frequency rank #31,880, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃa\. cherchais is at rank #10,838, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\.
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 42718, this pair ranks #223,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chercha vs cherchais
Shared letters: acehr. Private to "chercha": -. Private to "cherchais": is.
"chercha" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV · "cherchais" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chercha" and "cherchais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "chercha" vs "cherchais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chercha" and "cherchais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chercha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cherchais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chercha" and "cherchais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chercha vs cherchée". 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 #223,491 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.