Which to use
“dépêcher” and “détecter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,981
- “dépêcher” frequency rank
- #8,698
- “détecter” frequency rank
- 34679
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépêcher | détecter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Envoyer quelqu’un en hâte avec des ordres, une commission. | Se rendre compte de ; déceler ; trouver, en parlant de quelque chose qui n'était pas évident. |
Where the eye mixes dépêcher and détecter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dépêcher and détecter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dépêcher and détecter
A purely visual mix-up. dépêcher (\de.pe.ʃe\) and détecter (\de.tɛk.te\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34679, 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\. détecter is at rank #8,698, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.tɛk.te\.
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 34679, this pair ranks #282,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépêcher vs détecter
Shared letters: cderé. Private to "dépêcher": hpê. Private to "détecter": t.
"dépêcher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "détecter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépêcher" for "détecter" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dépêcher" or "détecter" 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 "dépêcher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "détecter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépêcher" and "détecter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs dépêcher". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #282,153 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.