chèrevschèvresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,764
“chère” frequency rank
#13,540
“chèvres” frequency rank
16304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chère chèvres
Definition Personne considérée comme chère, qui est tenu avec une affectueuse haute estime ou, par ironie, à qui est adressée une forme de dédain. Pluriel de chèvre.

Where the eye mixes chère and chèvres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chère runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against chèvres's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
chère
7 ch
chèvres

Visual trap between chère and chèvres

A purely visual mix-up. chère (\ʃɛʁ\) and chèvres (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16304, 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\. chèvres is at rank #13,540, 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 16304, this pair ranks #388,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chère vs chèvres

Shared letters: cehrè. Private to "chère": -. Private to "chèvres": sv.

"chère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chèvres" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chère" for "chèvres" 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 "chèvres" - which ranks higher?
"chère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,764 in our French list, against #13,540 for "chèvres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "chère" and "chèvres" 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 "chèvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chère" and "chèvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chevreau vs chèvres". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #388,434 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