décochervsdécrocheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,126
“décocher” frequency rank
#9,310
“décroche” frequency rank
55436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décocher décroche
Definition Tirer une flèche avec l’arbalète ou avec toute autre arme de trait semblable. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décrocher.

Where the eye mixes décocher and décroche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. décocher (CVCVCCVC) and décroche (CVCCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
décocher
8 ch
décroche

Look-alike desk: décocher vs décroche

A purely visual mix-up. décocher (\de.kɔ.ʃe\) and décroche (\de.kʁɔʃ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décocher is recorded at frequency rank #46,126, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʃe\. décroche is at rank #9,310, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁɔʃ\.

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 55436, this pair ranks #127,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décocher vs décroche

Shared letters: cdehoré. Private to "décocher": -. Private to "décroche": -.

"décocher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "décroche" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décocher" and "décroche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔ.ʃe\ versus \de.kʁɔʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décocher" or "décroche" show up more?
"décroche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,310 in our French list, against #46,126 for "décocher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décocher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décroche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décocher" and "décroche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs découler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #127,462 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