chevauxvscheveuWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,663
“chevaux” frequency rank
#15,833
“cheveu” frequency rank
18496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chevaux cheveu
Definition Pluriel de cheval. Filament organique synthétisé par l’épiderme du crâne humain.

Where the eye mixes chevaux and cheveu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chevaux runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against cheveu's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
chevaux
6 ch
cheveu

Visual trap between chevaux and cheveu

A purely visual mix-up. chevaux (\ʃə.vo\) and cheveu (\ʃə.vø\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chevaux is recorded at frequency rank #2,663, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.vo\. cheveu is at rank #15,833, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.vø\.

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 18496, this pair ranks #378,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chevaux vs cheveu

Shared letters: cehuv. Private to "chevaux": ax. Private to "cheveu": -.

"chevaux" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "cheveu" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chevauxcchevaux · cehvaux · cheavux · chevauxx · chevaxu · chevuax · chevvaux · chhevaux
  • cheveuccheveu · cehveu · cheevu · chevue · chevveu · chheveu · chveeu · hceveu

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chevaux" and "cheveu" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃə.vo\ versus \ʃə.vø\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chevaux" vs "cheveu" - which ranks higher?
"chevaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,663 in our French list, against #15,833 for "cheveu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "chevaux" and "cheveu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chevaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cheveu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #378,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chevaux" and "cheveu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheveu 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 #378,028 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