Which to use
“dépêche” is a noun and “dépêcher” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,994
- “dépêche” frequency rank
- #25,981
- “dépêcher” frequency rank
- 34975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépêche | dépêcher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Communication officielle ou privée transmise par voie plus ou moins rapide. | Envoyer quelqu’un en hâte avec des ordres, une commission. |
Where the eye mixes dépêche and dépêcher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépêche runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against dépêcher's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dépêche and dépêcher
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépêche is \de.pɛʃ\ while dépêcher is \de.pe.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “dépêche” sits inside “dépêcher”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépêche is recorded at frequency rank #8,994, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɛʃ\. 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 34975, this pair ranks #280,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépêche vs dépêcher
Shared letters: cdehpéê. Private to "dépêche": -. Private to "dépêcher": r.
"dépêche" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dépêcher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépêche" and "dépêcher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dépêche" or "dépêcher"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépêche" and "dépêcher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépêche" 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 #280,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépêche" and "dépêcher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs dépêcher". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #280,060 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.