chèrevschériesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: chère is a noun, chéries is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chère” is a noun and “chéries” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,764
“chère” frequency rank
#43,843
“chéries” frequency rank
46607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chère chéries
Definition Personne considérée comme chère, qui est tenu avec une affectueuse haute estime ou, par ironie, à qui est adressée une forme de dédain. Féminin pluriel de chéri.

Where the eye mixes chère and chéries

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
chère
7 ch
chéries

Look-alike desk: chère vs chéries

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chère is \ʃɛʁ\ while chéries is \ʃe.ʁi\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chère is recorded at frequency rank #2,764, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛʁ\. chéries is at rank #43,843, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃe.ʁi\.

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 46607, this pair ranks #193,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chère vs chéries

Shared letters: cehr. Private to "chère": è. Private to "chéries": isé.

"chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chéries" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chère" and "chéries" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chère" is a noun and "chéries" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "chère" or "chéries" show up more?
"chère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,764 in our French list, against #43,843 for "chéries". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chéries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #193,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chère" and "chéries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chéries vs cierges". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #193,598 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list