approchevsapprochezWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,385
“approche” frequency rank
#30,467
“approchez” frequency rank
31852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature approche approchez
Definition Action de s’approcher. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe approcher.

Where the eye mixes approche and approchez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
approche
9 ch
approchez

Look-alike desk: approche vs approchez

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: approche is \a.pʁɔʃ\ while approchez is \a.pʁɔ.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “approche” sits inside “approchez”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

approche is recorded at frequency rank #1,385, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.pʁɔʃ\. approchez is at rank #30,467, 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 31852, this pair ranks #301,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of approche vs approchez

Shared letters: acehopr. Private to "approche": -. Private to "approchez": z.

"approche" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV  ·  "approchez" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • approcheapporche · apprcohe · approcche · approceh · approchhe · approhce · apprroche · aproche
  • approchezapporchez · apprcohez · approcchez · approcehz · approchezz · approchhez · approchze · approhcez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "approche" and "approchez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "approche" is a noun and "approchez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "approche" or "approchez"?
"approche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,385 in our French list, against #30,467 for "approchez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "approche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "approchez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "approche" and "approchez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accrochez 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 #301,138 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