approchavsapprochesTell them apart

Quick tell: approcha is a verb, approches is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“approcha” is a verb and “approches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,200
“approcha” frequency rank
#9,601
“approches” frequency rank
34801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature approcha approches
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe approcher. Pluriel de approche.

Where the eye mixes approcha and approches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. approcha runs 8 letters (VCCCVCCV) against approches's 9 (VCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
approcha
9 ch
approches

Visual trap between approcha and approches

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: approcha is \a.pʁɔ.ʃa\ while approches is \a.pʁɔʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34801, 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\. approches is at rank #9,601, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.pʁɔʃ\.

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 34801, this pair ranks #281,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of approcha vs approches

Shared letters: achopr. Private to "approcha": -. Private to "approches": es.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • approcha ← apporcha · apprcoha · approcah · approccha · approchha · approhca · apprrocha · aprocha
  • approches ← apporches · apprcohes · approcches · approcehs · approchess · approchhes · approchse · approhces

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "approcha" and "approches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "approcha" is a verb and "approches" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "approcha" vs "approches" - which ranks higher?
"approches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,601 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.

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 "approcha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "approches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "approcha" and "approches" 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 #281,276 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