apachesvsattachesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,859
“apaches” frequency rank
#18,122
“attaches” frequency rank
62981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apaches attaches
Definition Pluriel de apache. Pluriel de attache.

Where the eye mixes apaches and attaches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. apaches runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against attaches's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
apaches
8 ch
attaches

Why the eye confuses apaches with attaches

A purely visual mix-up. apaches (\a.paʃ\) and attaches (\a.taʃ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apaches is recorded at frequency rank #44,859, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.paʃ\. attaches is at rank #18,122, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.taʃ\.

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 62981, this pair ranks #84,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of apaches vs attaches

Shared letters: acehs. Private to "apaches": p. Private to "attaches": t.

"apaches" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "attaches" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apachesaapches · apacches · apacehs · apachess · apachhes · apachse · apahces · apcahes
  • attachesataches · atatches · attacches · attacehs · attachess · attachhes · attachse · attahces

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apaches" and "attaches" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.paʃ\ versus \a.taʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apaches" vs "attaches" - which ranks higher?
"attaches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,122 in our French list, against #44,859 for "apaches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apaches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "attaches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apaches" and "attaches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apaches vs arches". 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 #84,259 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