chevaliervschevaliersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: chevalier is a adjective, chevaliers is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chevalier” is an adjective and “chevaliers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,522
“chevalier” frequency rank
#7,285
“chevaliers” frequency rank
10807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chevalier chevaliers
Definition Noble, chevaleresque. Pluriel de chevalier.

Same sound, different letters: chevalier vs chevaliers

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. chevalier runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVVC) against chevaliers's 10 (CCVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
chevalier
10 ch
chevaliers

Same sound, different spelling - chevalier / chevaliers

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: chevalier and chevaliers carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʃə.va.lje\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chevalier” sits inside “chevaliers”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chevalier is recorded at frequency rank #3,522, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃə.va.lje\. chevaliers is at rank #7,285, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.va.lje\.

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 10807, this pair ranks #411,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chevalier vs chevaliers

Shared letters: acehilrv. Private to "chevalier": -. Private to "chevaliers": s.

"chevalier" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC  ·  "chevaliers" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chevalier ← cchevalier · cehvalier · cheavlier · chevailer · chevaleir · chevalierr · chevalire · chevlaier
  • chevaliers ← cchevaliers · cehvaliers · cheavliers · chevailers · chevaleirs · chevalierrs · chevalierss · chevaliesr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chevalier" for "chevaliers" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chevalier" is an adjective and "chevaliers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "chevalier" vs "chevaliers" - which ranks higher?
"chevalier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,522 in our French list, against #7,285 for "chevaliers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chevalier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chevaliers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #411,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chevalier" and "chevaliers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chevalier vs chevaline". 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 #411,590 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