chériesvschersWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,843
“chéries” frequency rank
#3,521
“chers” frequency rank
47364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chéries chers
Definition Féminin pluriel de chéri. Masculin pluriel de cher.

Where the eye mixes chéries and chers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chéries runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against chers's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
chéries
5 ch
chers

Why the eye confuses chéries with chers

A purely visual mix-up. chéries (\ʃe.ʁi\) and chers ([ʃɛʁ]) 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 47364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chéries is recorded at frequency rank #43,843, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃe.ʁi\. chers is at rank #3,521, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃɛʁ].

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 47364, this pair ranks #187,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chéries vs chers

Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "chéries": ié. Private to "chers": -.

"chéries" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "chers" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chers ← cchers · cehrs · cherrs · cherss · chesr · chhers · chres · hcers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chéries" and "chers" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃe.ʁi\ versus [ʃɛʁ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chéries" vs "chers" - which ranks higher?
"chers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,521 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chéries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chéries" and "chers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chéries vs cierges". 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 #187,563 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