chèrevschèvreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“chère” and “chèvre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,764
“chère” frequency rank
#8,214
“chèvre” frequency rank
10978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chère chèvre
Definition Personne considérée comme chère, qui est tenu avec une affectueuse haute estime ou, par ironie, à qui est adressée une forme de dédain. Genre de mammifère de l’ordre des ruminants, à cornes creuses et persistantes et à menton garni d’une barbe.

Where the eye mixes chère and chèvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
chère
6 ch
chèvre

Visual trap between chère and chèvre

A purely visual mix-up. chère (\ʃɛʁ\) and chèvre (\ʃɛvʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10978, 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\. 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 10978, this pair ranks #410,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chère vs chèvre

Shared letters: cehrè. Private to "chère": -. Private to "chèvre": v.

"chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chèvre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chère" for "chèvre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʃɛʁ\ versus \ʃɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chère" vs "chèvre" - which ranks higher?
"chère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,764 in our French list, against #8,214 for "chèvre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "chère" and "chèvre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chère" 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 #410,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chère" and "chèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chèvre vs chevreau". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #410,934 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