Which to use
“chient” and “chier” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,980
- “chient” frequency rank
- #1,945
- “chier” frequency rank
- 50925
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chient | chier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe chier. | Déféquer. |
Where the eye mixes chient and chier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. chient runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against chier's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between chient and chier
A purely visual mix-up. chient (\ʃi\) and chier (\ʃje\) 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 50925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chient is recorded at frequency rank #48,980, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃi\. chier is at rank #1,945, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃje\.
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 50925, this pair ranks #158,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chient vs chier
Shared letters: cehi. Private to "chient": nt. Private to "chier": r.
"chient" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "chier" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chient" and "chier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chient" or "chier"?
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 "chient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chient" and "chier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceint vs chient". 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 #158,874 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.