Which to use
“cheval” is a noun and “chevelu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,654
- “cheval” frequency rank
- #27,004
- “chevelu” frequency rank
- 28658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cheval | chevelu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grand mammifère périssodactyle de la famille des équidés, habituellement domestiqué et employé comme monture ou comme bête de trait, de somme. | Qui porte des cheveux longs et touffus. |
Where the eye mixes cheval and chevelu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cheval runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against chevelu's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cheval and chevelu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cheval is \ʃə.val\ while chevelu is \ʃəv.ly\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 28658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cheval is recorded at frequency rank #1,654, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.val\. chevelu is at rank #27,004, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃəv.ly\.
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 28658, this pair ranks #321,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cheval vs chevelu
Shared letters: cehlv. Private to "cheval": a. Private to "chevelu": u.
"cheval" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "chevelu" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cheval" for "chevelu" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cheval" or "chevelu" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cheval" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chevelu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cheval" and "chevelu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chevelu vs chevreau". 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 #321,469 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.