Which to use
“dépêche” is a noun and “détache” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,994
- “dépêche” frequency rank
- #14,665
- “détache” frequency rank
- 23659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépêche | détache |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Communication officielle ou privée transmise par voie plus ou moins rapide. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de détacher. |
Where the eye mixes dépêche and détache
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dépêche and détache follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: dépêche vs détache
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépêche is \de.pɛʃ\ while détache is \de.taʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23659, 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\. détache is at rank #14,665, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.taʃ\.
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 23659, this pair ranks #351,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépêche vs détache
Shared letters: cdehé. Private to "dépêche": pê. Private to "détache": at.
"dépêche" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "détache" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépêche" and "détache" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dépêche" or "détache"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépêche" and "détache" 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 "détache" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #351,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépêche" and "détache" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs détache". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #351,175 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.