chevetvscheveuxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,364
“chevet” frequency rank
#1,177
“cheveux” frequency rank
12541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chevet cheveux
Definition Tête de lit ou partie de la literie où l’on pose sa tête quand on est couché. Pluriel de cheveu.

Where the eye mixes chevet and cheveux

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

6 ch
chevet
7 ch
cheveux

Visual trap between chevet and cheveux

A purely visual mix-up. chevet (\ʃə.vɛ\) and cheveux (\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 12541, 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\. cheveux is at rank #1,177, 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 12541, this pair ranks #404,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chevet vs cheveux

Shared letters: cehv. Private to "chevet": t. Private to "cheveux": ux.

"chevet" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "cheveux" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chevetcchevet · cehvet · cheevt · chevett · chevte · chevvet · chhevet · chveet
  • cheveuxccheveux · cehveux · cheevux · cheveuxx · chevexu · chevuex · chevveux · chheveux

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chevet" and "cheveux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
Frequency check: "chevet" vs "cheveux" - which ranks higher?
"cheveux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,177 in our French list, against #11,364 for "chevet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chevet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cheveux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #404,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chevet" and "cheveux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cheney vs chevet". 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 #404,816 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