chiffresvscoffresTell them apart

Which to use

“chiffres” and “coffres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,434
“chiffres” frequency rank
#14,636
“coffres” frequency rank
16070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chiffres coffres
Definition Pluriel de chiffre. Pluriel de coffre.

Where the eye mixes chiffres and coffres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. chiffres runs 8 letters (CCVCCCVC) against coffres's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
chiffres
7 ch
coffres

Look-alike desk: chiffres vs coffres

A purely visual mix-up. chiffres (\ʃifʁ\) and coffres (\kɔfʁ\) 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 16070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chiffres is recorded at frequency rank #1,434, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃifʁ\. coffres is at rank #14,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔfʁ\.

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 16070, this pair ranks #389,527 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chiffres vs coffres

Shared letters: cefrs. Private to "chiffres": hi. Private to "coffres": o.

"chiffres" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC  ·  "coffres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chiffres ← cchiffres · chfifres · chhiffres · chiffers · chiffress · chiffrres · chiffrse · chifres
  • coffres ← ccoffres · cfofres · coffers · coffress · coffrres · coffrse · cofres · cofrfes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chiffres" and "coffres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃifʁ\ versus \kɔfʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "chiffres" or "coffres" show up more?
"chiffres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,434 in our French list, against #14,636 for "coffres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "chiffres" and "coffres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chiffres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coffres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #389,527 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chiffres" and "coffres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coffres vs congres". 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 #389,527 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