achatsvsachèteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,459
“achats” frequency rank
#2,976
“achète” frequency rank
7435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achats achète
Definition Pluriel de achat. Nom générique donné aux insectes qui stridulent tels la cigale et le grillon.

Where the eye mixes achats and achète

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. achats (VCCVCC) and achète (VCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
achats
6 ch
achète

Look-alike desk: achats vs achète

A purely visual mix-up. achats (\a.ʃa\) and achète (\a.ʃɛt\) 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 7435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achats is recorded at frequency rank #4,459, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ʃa\. achète is at rank #2,976, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ʃɛt\.

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 7435, this pair ranks #423,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of achats vs achète

Shared letters: acht. Private to "achats": s. Private to "achète": eè.

"achats" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "achète" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • achats ← acahts · acchats · achast · achatss · achatts · achhats · achtas · ahcats

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "achats" and "achète" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ʃa\ versus \a.ʃɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "achats" vs "achète" - which ranks higher?
"achète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,976 in our French list, against #4,459 for "achats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "achats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "achète" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "achats" and "achète" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "achats vs appâts". 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 #423,180 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