Which to use
“chinois” and “chinoises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,249
- “chinois” frequency rank
- #9,616
- “chinoises” frequency rank
- 10865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chinois | chinoises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui se rapporte aux Chinois, à la Chine. | Féminin pluriel de chinois. |
Where the eye mixes chinois and chinoises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. chinois runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against chinoises's 9 (CCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chinois with chinoises
A purely visual mix-up. chinois (\ʃi.nwa\) and chinoises (\ʃi.nwaz\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “chinois” sits inside “chinoises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chinois is recorded at frequency rank #1,249, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʃi.nwa\. chinoises is at rank #9,616, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʃi.nwaz\.
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 10865, this pair ranks #411,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chinois vs chinoises
Shared letters: chinos. Private to "chinois": -. Private to "chinoises": e.
"chinois" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "chinoises" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chinois" for "chinoises" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chinois" or "chinoises"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "chinois" and "chinoises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chinois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chinoises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chinois" and "chinoises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chichis vs chinois". 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 #411,375 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.