chezvschutWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: chez is a preposition, chut is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chez” is a preposition and “chut” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#129
“chez” frequency rank
#12,739
“chut” frequency rank
12868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chez chut
Definition Dans la maison de, au logis de ; associé au lieu de résidence ou d'activité d'une personne. Interjection dont on se sert pour avertir ou ordonner de faire silence.

Where the eye mixes chez and chut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
chez
4 ch
chut

Why the eye confuses chez with chut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chez is \ʃe\ while chut is \ʃyt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chez is recorded at frequency rank #129, classified as aprep, pronounced \ʃe\. chut is at rank #12,739, tagged as anintj, pronounced \ʃyt\.

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 12868, this pair ranks #403,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chez vs chut

Shared letters: ch. Private to "chez": ez. Private to "chut": tu.

"chez" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "chut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chezcchez · cehz · chezz · chhez · chze · hcez
  • chutcchut · chhut · chtu · chutt · cuht · hcut

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chez" for "chut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chez" is a preposition and "chut" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chez" or "chut"?
"chez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #129 in our French list, against #12,739 for "chut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "chez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chez" and "chut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs chut". 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 #403,416 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