approchentvsapprocherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,065
“approchent” frequency rank
#6,165
“approcher” frequency rank
22230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature approchent approcher
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe approcher. Mettre proche, mettre près.

Where the eye mixes approchent and approcher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. approchent runs 10 letters (VCCCVCCVCC) against approcher's 9 (VCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
approchent
9 ch
approcher

Why the eye confuses approchent with approcher

A purely visual mix-up. approchent (\a.pʁɔʃ\) 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 22230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

approchent is recorded at frequency rank #16,065, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɔʃ\. 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 22230, this pair ranks #359,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of approchent vs approcher

Shared letters: acehopr. Private to "approchent": nt. Private to "approcher": -.

"approchent" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCC  ·  "approcher" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • approchent ← apporchent · apprcohent · approcchent · approcehnt · approchennt · approchentt · approchetn · approchhent
  • approcher ← apporcher · apprcoher · approccher · approcehr · approcherr · approchher · approchre · approhcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "approchent" and "approcher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\a.pʁɔʃ\ versus \a.pʁɔ.ʃe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "approchent" or "approcher"?
"approcher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,165 in our French list, against #16,065 for "approchent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "approchent" 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 #359,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "approchent" and "approcher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "approchent 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 #359,150 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