choirvschouWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: choir is a verb, chou is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“choir” is a verb and “chou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,708
“choir” frequency rank
#6,171
“chou” frequency rank
45879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choir chou
Definition Tomber. Non usuel donné à de nombreuses variétés de Brassica oleracea ainsi qu'a quelques autres espèces du genre Brassica, plante potagère de la famille des Brassicaceae (anciennement crucifères) que l'on cultive pour manger diverses partie de la plante.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set choir and chou apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
choir
4 ch
chou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: choir is \ʃwaʁ\ while chou is \ʃu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choir is recorded at frequency rank #39,708, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃwaʁ\. chou is at rank #6,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃu\.

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 45879, this pair ranks #199,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of choir vs chou

Shared letters: cho. Private to "choir": ir. Private to "chou": u.

"choir" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "chou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • choircchoir · chhoir · chior · choirr · chori · cohir · hcoir
  • choucchou · chhou · chuo · cohu · hcou

Frequency comparison

choir#39,708
chou#6,171

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "choir" and "chou" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "choir" is a verb and "chou" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "choir" or "chou"?
"chou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,171 in our French list, against #39,708 for "choir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering choir vs chou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “choir”; for a noun, it's “chou”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “choir” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list