Which to use
“chimère” and “commère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,587
- “chimère” frequency rank
- #46,075
- “commère” frequency rank
- 71662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chimère | commère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Figure imaginaire représentant un animal fabuleux à buste de lion à ventre de chèvre et à queue de serpent. | Personne qui est la marraine d’un même enfant, du point de vue du parrain, du père et de mère de l’enfant. |
Where the eye mixes chimère and commère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. chimère (CCVCVCV) and commère (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: chimère vs commère
A purely visual mix-up. chimère (\ʃi.mɛʁ\) and commère (\kɔ.mɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chimère is recorded at frequency rank #25,587, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃi.mɛʁ\. commère is at rank #46,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɛʁ\.
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 71662, this pair ranks #46,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chimère vs commère
Shared letters: cemrè. Private to "chimère": hi. Private to "commère": o.
"chimère" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "commère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chimère" for "commère" ever safe?
Frequency check: "chimère" vs "commère" - 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 "chimère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chimère" and "commère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commercer vs commère". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #46,763 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.