Which to use
“chose” is a noun and “close” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #158
- “chose” frequency rank
- #10,842
- “close” frequency rank
- 11000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chose | close |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Objet, idée ou abstraction quelconque, sans pouvoir, vouloir, ou devoir l’identifier ou la nommer. Note d’usage : La signification du mot chose se déduit par la manière dont on l’emploie dans la phrase, où il remplace ce qu’il n’est pas possible (ou pas souhaitable) de nommer. Peut aussi remplacer un ensemble d’objets inanimés (ou d’idées) qu’on devine par le contexte. | Féminin singulier de clos. |
Where the eye mixes chose and close
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chose is \ʃoz\ while close is \kloz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “chose” becomes l in “close”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chose is recorded at frequency rank #158, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃoz\. close is at rank #10,842, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kloz\.
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 11000, this pair ranks #410,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chose vs close
Shared letters: ceos. Private to "chose": h. Private to "close": l.
"chose" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "chose" and "close" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "chose" or "close"?
What to do next
You've compared "chose" and "close". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "chose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "close" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chose" and "close" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cese vs close". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.