chimiquesvscosmiquesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,471
“chimiques” frequency rank
#30,544
“cosmiques” frequency rank
35015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chimiques cosmiques
Definition Pluriel de chimique. Pluriel de cosmique.

Where the eye mixes chimiques and cosmiques

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. chimiques (CCVCVCVVC) and cosmiques (CVCCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
chimiques
9 ch
cosmiques

Look-alike desk: chimiques vs cosmiques

A purely visual mix-up. chimiques (\ʃi.mik\) and cosmiques (\kɔs.mik\) 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 35015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chimiques is recorded at frequency rank #4,471, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃi.mik\. cosmiques is at rank #30,544, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔs.mik\.

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 35015, this pair ranks #279,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chimiques vs cosmiques

Shared letters: ceimqsu. Private to "chimiques": h. Private to "cosmiques": o.

"chimiques" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC  ·  "cosmiques" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chimiquescchimiques · chhimiques · chiimques · chimiqeus · chimiqques · chimiquess · chimiquse · chimiuqes
  • cosmiquesccosmiques · comsiques · cosimques · cosmiqeus · cosmiqques · cosmiquess · cosmiquse · cosmiuqes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chimiques" and "cosmiques" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃi.mik\ versus \kɔs.mik\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chimiques" vs "cosmiques" - which ranks higher?
"chimiques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,471 in our French list, against #30,544 for "cosmiques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "chimiques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cosmiques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #279,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chimiques" and "cosmiques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coniques vs cosmiques". 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 #279,768 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