approchavsapprocherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,200
“approcha” frequency rank
#6,165
“approcher” frequency rank
31365
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature approcha approcher
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe approcher. Mettre proche, mettre près.

Where the eye mixes approcha and approcher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
approcha
9 ch
approcher

Visual trap between approcha and approcher

A purely visual mix-up. approcha (\a.pʁɔ.ʃa\) and approcher (\a.pʁɔ.ʃe\) 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 31365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

approcha is recorded at frequency rank #25,200, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɔ.ʃa\. approcher is at rank #6,165, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɔ.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 31365, this pair ranks #304,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of approcha vs approcher

Shared letters: achopr. Private to "approcha": -. Private to "approcher": e.

"approcha" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV  ·  "approcher" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • approchaapporcha · apprcoha · approcah · approccha · approchha · approhca · apprrocha · aprocha
  • approcherapporcher · apprcoher · approccher · approcehr · approcherr · approchher · approchre · approhcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "approcha" for "approcher" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\a.pʁɔ.ʃa\ versus \a.pʁɔ.ʃe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "approcha" vs "approcher" - which ranks higher?
"approcher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,165 in our French list, against #25,200 for "approcha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "approcha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "approcher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "approcha" and "approcher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "approcha vs approchez". 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 #304,250 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