chimistevschimistesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,831
“chimiste” frequency rank
#34,023
“chimistes” frequency rank
50854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chimiste chimistes
Definition Celui, celle qui s’occupe de chimie. Pluriel de chimiste.

Same sound, different letters: chimiste vs chimistes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. chimiste runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against chimistes's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
chimiste
9 ch
chimistes

Ear matches; page differs - chimiste and chimistes

This is the hard kind. chimiste and chimistes are pronounced identically (\ʃi.mist\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chimiste” sits inside “chimistes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chimiste is recorded at frequency rank #16,831, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃi.mist\. chimistes is at rank #34,023, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃi.mist\.

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 50854, this pair ranks #159,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chimiste vs chimistes

Shared letters: cehimst. Private to "chimiste": -. Private to "chimistes": -.

"chimiste" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV  ·  "chimistes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chimiste ← cchimiste · chhimiste · chiimste · chimiset · chimisste · chimistte · chimitse · chimmiste
  • chimistes ← cchimistes · chhimistes · chiimstes · chimisets · chimisstes · chimistess · chimistse · chimisttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chimiste" and "chimistes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʃi.mist\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "chimiste" vs "chimistes" - which ranks higher?
"chimiste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,831 in our French list, against #34,023 for "chimistes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "chimiste" / "chimistes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chimiste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chimistes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chimiste" and "chimistes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chimistes vs choristes". 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 #159,419 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