Which to use
“chères” is an adjective and “chorus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,289
- “chères” frequency rank
- #39,709
- “chorus” frequency rank
- 48998
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chères | chorus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de cher. | Chœur, dans la locution « faire chorus ». |
Where the eye mixes chères and chorus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chères and chorus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: chères vs chorus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chères is [ʃɛʁ] while chorus is \kɔ.ʁys\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chères is recorded at frequency rank #9,289, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃɛʁ]. chorus is at rank #39,709, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ʁys\.
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 48998, this pair ranks #174,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chères vs chorus
Shared letters: chrs. Private to "chères": eè. Private to "chorus": ou.
"chères" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "chorus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- chorus ← cchorus · chhorus · chorrus · chorsu · choruss · chours · chrous · cohrus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chères" and "chorus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "chères" or "chorus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "chères" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chorus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chères" and "chorus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chorus vs courus". 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 #174,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.