Which to use
“arch” and “army” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,204
- “arch” frequency rank
- #20,358
- “army” frequency rank
- 45562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arch | army |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans les pays arabes, terre en usufruit collectif chez les peuples Berbères. | Armée (plus particulièrement armée de terre), groupe organisé de soldats. |
Where the eye mixes arch and army
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses arch with army
A purely visual mix-up. arch (\aʁʃ\) and army (\ˈɑɹ.mi\) 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 45562, 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\. army is at rank #20,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɑɹ.mi\.
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 45562, this pair ranks #201,793 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arch vs army
Shared letters: ar. Private to "arch": ch. Private to "army": my.
"arch" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "army" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "arch" and "army" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "arch" vs "army" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "army" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,793 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arch" and "army" 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 #201,793 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.