Which to use
“chèvre” and “chevreau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,214
- “chèvre” frequency rank
- #49,552
- “chevreau” frequency rank
- 57766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chèvre | chevreau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genre de mammifère de l’ordre des ruminants, à cornes creuses et persistantes et à menton garni d’une barbe. | Petit d’une chèvre. |
Where the eye mixes chèvre and chevreau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between chèvre and chevreau
A purely visual mix-up. chèvre (\ʃɛvʁ\) and chevreau (\ʃə.vʁo\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chèvre is recorded at frequency rank #8,214, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛvʁ\. chevreau is at rank #49,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.vʁo\.
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 57766, this pair ranks #113,106 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chèvre vs chevreau
Shared letters: cehrv. Private to "chèvre": è. Private to "chevreau": au.
"chèvre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "chevreau" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- chevreau ← cchevreau · cehvreau · cherveau · cheverau · chevraeu · chevreua · chevrreau · chevvreau
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chèvre" for "chevreau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chèvre" vs "chevreau" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chèvre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chevreau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,106 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chèvre" and "chevreau" 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 #113,106 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.