chevetvscheveuConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,364
“chevet” frequency rank
#15,833
“cheveu” frequency rank
27197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chevet cheveu
Definition Tête de lit ou partie de la literie où l’on pose sa tête quand on est couché. Filament organique synthétisé par l’épiderme du crâne humain.

Where the eye mixes chevet and cheveu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
chevet
6 ch
cheveu

Visual trap between chevet and cheveu

A purely visual mix-up. chevet (\ʃə.vɛ\) 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 a single letter - t in “chevet” becomes u in “cheveu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chevet is recorded at frequency rank #11,364, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.vɛ\. 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 27197, this pair ranks #330,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chevet vs cheveu

Shared letters: cehv. Private to "chevet": t. Private to "cheveu": u.

"chevet" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "cheveu" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chevetcchevet · cehvet · cheevt · chevett · chevte · chevvet · chhevet · chveet
  • cheveuccheveu · cehveu · cheevu · chevue · chevveu · chheveu · chveeu · hceveu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chevet" for "cheveu" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʃə.vɛ\ versus \ʃə.vø\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "chevet" or "cheveu"?
"chevet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,364 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chevet" 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 #330,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chevet" 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 #330,510 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