Which to use
“dépêcher” is a verb and “dépêches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,981
- “dépêcher” frequency rank
- #25,982
- “dépêches” frequency rank
- 51963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépêcher | dépêches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Envoyer quelqu’un en hâte avec des ordres, une commission. | Pluriel de dépêche. |
Where the eye mixes dépêcher and dépêches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépêcher and dépêches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: dépêcher vs dépêches
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépêcher is \de.pe.ʃe\ while dépêches is \de.pɛʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “dépêcher” becomes s in “dépêches”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépêcher is recorded at frequency rank #25,981, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pe.ʃe\. dépêches is at rank #25,982, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.pɛʃ\.
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 51963, this pair ranks #151,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépêcher vs dépêches
Shared letters: cdehpéê. Private to "dépêcher": r. Private to "dépêches": s.
"dépêcher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dépêches" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépêcher" for "dépêches" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dépêcher" or "dépêches"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépêcher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépêches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #151,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépêcher" and "dépêches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs dépêcher". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #151,136 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.