Which to use
“cherchais” and “cherchons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,838
- “cherchais” frequency rank
- #13,132
- “cherchons” frequency rank
- 23970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cherchais | cherchons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe chercher. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe chercher. |
Where the eye mixes cherchais and cherchons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cherchais and cherchons
A purely visual mix-up. cherchais (\ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\) and cherchons (\ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃\) 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 23970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cherchais is recorded at frequency rank #10,838, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\. cherchons is at rank #13,132, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃɔ̃\.
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 23970, this pair ranks #349,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cherchais vs cherchons
Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "cherchais": ai. Private to "cherchons": no.
"cherchais" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVVC · "cherchons" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cherchais" and "cherchons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cherchais" or "cherchons" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cherchais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cherchons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cherchais" and "cherchons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cherchions vs cherchons". 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 #349,403 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.