Which to use
“chiffre” and “coiffure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,946
- “chiffre” frequency rank
- #7,668
- “coiffure” frequency rank
- 9614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chiffre | coiffure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractère utilisé pour écrire les nombres. Par analogie avec les mots, on peut dire que les chiffres constituent l’alphabet des nombres. | Manière dont on arrange les cheveux selon le pays et la mode. |
Where the eye mixes chiffre and coiffure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. chiffre runs 7 letters (CCVCCCV) against coiffure's 8 (CVVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chiffre with coiffure
A purely visual mix-up. chiffre (\ʃifʁ\) and coiffure (\kwa.fyʁ\) 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 9614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chiffre is recorded at frequency rank #1,946, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃifʁ\. coiffure is at rank #7,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kwa.fyʁ\.
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 9614, this pair ranks #416,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chiffre vs coiffure
Shared letters: cefir. Private to "chiffre": h. Private to "coiffure": ou.
"chiffre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV · "coiffure" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chiffre" for "coiffure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chiffre" vs "coiffure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "chiffre" and "coiffure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chiffre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coiffure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chiffre" and "coiffure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coiffeurs vs coiffure". 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 #416,027 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.