Which to use
“chez” is a preposition and “clef” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #129
- “chez” frequency rank
- #6,063
- “clef” frequency rank
- 6192
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chez | clef |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans la maison de, au logis de ; associé au lieu de résidence ou d'activité d'une personne. | Variante orthographique de clé. |
Where the eye mixes chez and clef
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: chez vs clef
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chez is \ʃe\ while clef is \kle\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chez is recorded at frequency rank #129, classified as aprep, pronounced \ʃe\. clef is at rank #6,063, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kle\.
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 6192, this pair ranks #426,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chez vs clef
Shared letters: ce. Private to "chez": hz. Private to "clef": fl.
"chez" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "clef" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chez" and "clef" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chez" vs "clef" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clef" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chez" and "clef" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs clef". 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 #426,913 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.