Which to use
“chiche” and “chico” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,367
- “chiche” frequency rank
- #25,247
- “chico” frequency rank
- 52614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chiche | chico |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui répugne à dépenser ce qu’il faudrait. | Petit. |
Where the eye mixes chiche and chico
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chiche runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against chico's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chiche with chico
A purely visual mix-up. chiche (\ʃiʃ\) and chico (\ˈtʃi.ko\) 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 52614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chiche is recorded at frequency rank #27,367, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃiʃ\. chico is at rank #25,247, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈtʃi.ko\.
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 52614, this pair ranks #146,473 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chiche vs chico
Shared letters: chi. Private to "chiche": e. Private to "chico": o.
"chiche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "chico" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chiche" and "chico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chiche" vs "chico" - 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 "chiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,473 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chiche" and "chico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chico vs ciro". 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 #146,473 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.