Which to use
“chercher” and “cherchez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #717
- “chercher” frequency rank
- #4,411
- “cherchez” frequency rank
- 5128
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chercher | cherchez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se donner du mouvement, du soin ou de la peine pour trouver quelqu’un ou quelque chose. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe chercher. |
Same sound, different letters: chercher vs cherchez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Homophone desk: chercher vs cherchez
This is the hard kind. chercher and cherchez are pronounced identically (\ʃɛʁ.ʃe\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - r in “chercher” becomes z in “cherchez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chercher is recorded at frequency rank #717, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. cherchez is at rank #4,411, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\.
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 5128, this pair ranks #429,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chercher vs cherchez
Shared letters: cehr. Private to "chercher": -. Private to "cherchez": z.
"chercher" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC · "cherchez" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chercher" for "cherchez" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chercher" or "cherchez"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "chercher" / "cherchez". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "chercher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cherchez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chercher" and "cherchez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chercher vs chercherai". 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 #429,818 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.