achètevsachètesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,976
“achète” frequency rank
#17,054
“achètes” frequency rank
20030
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Same sound, different letters: achète vs achètes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. achète runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against achètes's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
achète
7 ch
achètes

Ear matches; page differs - achète and achètes

This is the hard kind. achète and achètes are pronounced identically (\a.ʃɛt\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “achète” sits inside “achètes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achète is recorded at frequency rank #2,976, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ʃɛt\. achètes is at rank #17,054, 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 20030, this pair ranks #370,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of achète vs achètes

Shared letters: acehtè. Private to "achète": -. Private to "achètes": s.

"achète" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "achètes" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "achète" for "achètes" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\a.ʃɛt\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "achète" or "achètes" show up more?
"achète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,976 in our French list, against #17,054 for "achètes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "achète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "achètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #370,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "achète" and "achètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "achètes vs achetons". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #370,288 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