Which to use
“décocher” and “dépêcher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,126
- “décocher” frequency rank
- #25,981
- “dépêcher” frequency rank
- 72107
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décocher | dépêcher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tirer une flèche avec l’arbalète ou avec toute autre arme de trait semblable. | Envoyer quelqu’un en hâte avec des ordres, une commission. |
Where the eye mixes décocher and dépêcher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décocher and dépêcher follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between décocher and dépêcher
A purely visual mix-up. décocher (\de.kɔ.ʃe\) and dépêcher (\de.pe.ʃe\) 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 72107, 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\. dépêcher is at rank #25,981, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pe.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 72107, this pair ranks #45,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décocher vs dépêcher
Shared letters: cdehré. Private to "décocher": o. Private to "dépêcher": pê.
"décocher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dépêcher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décocher" and "dépêcher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "décocher" or "dépêcher" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "décocher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépêcher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décocher" and "dépêcher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs découler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #45,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.