attachéevsattacherWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,500
“attachée” frequency rank
#6,927
“attacher” frequency rank
15427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature attachée attacher
Definition Femme ayant une fonction d’attaché. Fixer une chose ou une personne à une autre, en sorte qu’elle y tienne.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set attachée and attacher apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
attachée
8 ch
attacher

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: attachée and attacher carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.ta.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

attachée is recorded at frequency rank #8,500, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ta.ʃe\. attacher is at rank #6,927, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ta.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 15427, this pair ranks #392,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of attachée vs attacher

Shared letters: aceht. Private to "attachée": é. Private to "attacher": r.

"attachée" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "attacher" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • attacheratacher · atatcher · attaccher · attacehr · attacherr · attachher · attachre · attahcer

Frequency comparison

attachée#8,500
attacher#6,927

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "attachée" and "attacher" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "attachée" is a noun and "attacher" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "attachée" or "attacher"?
"attacher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,927 in our French list, against #8,500 for "attachée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering attachée vs attacher

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “attachée”; for a verb, it's “attacher”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “attachée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list