Which to use
“approchait” and “approchent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,885
- “approchait” frequency rank
- #16,065
- “approchent” frequency rank
- 41950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | approchait | approchent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe approcher. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe approcher. |
Where the eye mixes approchait and approchent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between approchait and approchent
A purely visual mix-up. approchait (\a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ\) and approchent (\a.pʁɔʃ\) 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 41950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
approchait is recorded at frequency rank #25,885, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɔ.ʃɛ\. approchent is at rank #16,065, tagged as averb, 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 41950, this pair ranks #229,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of approchait vs approchent
Shared letters: achoprt. Private to "approchait": i. Private to "approchent": en.
"approchait" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVC · "approchent" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- approchait ← apporchait · apprcohait · approcahit · approcchait · approchaitt · approchati · approchhait · approchiat
- approchent ← apporchent · apprcohent · approcchent · approcehnt · approchennt · approchentt · approchetn · approchhent
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "approchait" and "approchent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "approchait" or "approchent" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "approchait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "approchent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "approchait" and "approchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "approcha vs approchait". 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 #229,339 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.