détachéevsdétacherWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: détachée is a noun, détacher is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“détachée” is a noun and “détacher” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,270
“détachée” frequency rank
#13,369
“détacher” frequency rank
32639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature détachée détacher
Definition Femme exerçant une fonction de détaché. Débarrasser d’une tache, de taches.

Same sound, different letters: détachée vs détacher

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. détachée (CVCVCCVV) and détacher (CVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
détachée
8 ch
détacher

Ear matches; page differs - détachée and détacher

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: détachée and détacher carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ta.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

détachée is recorded at frequency rank #19,270, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ta.ʃe\. détacher is at rank #13,369, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ta.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 32639, this pair ranks #295,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of détachée vs détacher

Shared letters: acdehté. Private to "détachée": -. Private to "détacher": r.

"détachée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "détacher" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "détachée" for "détacher" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "détachée" is a noun and "détacher" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "détachée" or "détacher" show up more?
"détacher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,369 in our French list, against #19,270 for "détachée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"détachée" and "détacher" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "détachée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "détacher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "détachée" and "détacher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs détacher". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #295,967 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list