accouchervsaccrocherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,048
“accoucher” frequency rank
#8,188
“accrocher” frequency rank
24236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature accoucher accrocher
Definition Mettre au monde un enfant. Attacher, suspendre à un crochet, à un clou, à un portemanteau, etc.

Where the eye mixes accoucher and accrocher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. accoucher (VCCVVCCVC) and accrocher (VCCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
accoucher
9 ch
accrocher

Why the eye confuses accoucher with accrocher

A purely visual mix-up. accoucher (\a.ku.ʃe\) and accrocher (\a.kʁɔ.ʃe\) 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 24236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

accoucher is recorded at frequency rank #16,048, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ku.ʃe\. accrocher is at rank #8,188, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.kʁɔ.ʃe\.

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 24236, this pair ranks #347,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of accoucher vs accrocher

Shared letters: acehor. Private to "accoucher": u. Private to "accrocher": -.

"accoucher" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC  ·  "accrocher" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • accoucher ← accocuher · accouccher · accoucehr · accoucherr · accouchher · accouchre · accouhcer · accuocher
  • accrocher ← accorcher · accrcoher · accroccher · accrocehr · accrocherr · accrochher · accrochre · accrohcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "accoucher" and "accrocher" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ku.ʃe\ versus \a.kʁɔ.ʃe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "accoucher" or "accrocher"?
"accrocher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,188 in our French list, against #16,048 for "accoucher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "accoucher" and "accrocher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "accoucher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "accrocher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "accoucher" and "accrocher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accoucher vs accoupler". 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 #347,770 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