Which to use
“arch” and “arche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,204
- “arch” frequency rank
- #10,990
- “arche” frequency rank
- 36194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arch | arche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans les pays arabes, terre en usufruit collectif chez les peuples Berbères. | Partie cintrée d’un pont, d’un aqueduc, d’un viaduc, etc. |
Same sound, different letters: arch vs arche
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. arch runs 4 letters (VCCC) against arche's 5 (VCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - arch and arche
This is the hard kind. arch and arche are pronounced identically (\aʁʃ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “arch” sits inside “arche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arch is recorded at frequency rank #25,204, classified as anoun, pronounced \aʁʃ\. 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 36194, this pair ranks #271,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arch vs arche
Shared letters: achr. Private to "arch": -. Private to "arche": e.
"arch" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "arche" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arch" for "arche" ever safe?
Frequency check: "arch" vs "arche" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "arch" 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 #271,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arch" and "arche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arch vs arti". 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 #271,358 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.