Which to use
“arbre” and “arche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,213
- “arbre” frequency rank
- #10,990
- “arche” frequency rank
- 13203
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arbre | arche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Végétal haut de plus de 7 mètres, dont la tige, appelée fût ou tronc, ne se garnit de branches et de feuilles qu’à une certaine hauteur. La partie constituée par les branches et les feuilles s’appelle houppier. | Partie cintrée d’un pont, d’un aqueduc, d’un viaduc, etc. |
Where the eye mixes arbre and arche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between arbre and arche
A purely visual mix-up. arbre (\aʁbʁ\) and arche (\aʁʃ\) 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 13203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arbre is recorded at frequency rank #2,213, classified as anoun, pronounced \aʁbʁ\. arche is at rank #10,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁʃ\.
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 13203, this pair ranks #402,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arbre vs arche
Shared letters: aer. Private to "arbre": b. Private to "arche": ch.
"arbre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "arche" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "arbre" and "arche" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "arbre" or "arche"?
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 "arbre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arbre" and "arche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arche vs Arcy". 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 #402,006 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.