Which to use
“échappa” is a verb and “échappé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,111
- “échappa” frequency rank
- #6,450
- “échappé” frequency rank
- 45561
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échappa | échappé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de échapper. | Fou qui a été enfermé ou qui pourrait l’être. |
Where the eye mixes échappa and échappé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. échappa and échappé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses échappa with échappé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: échappa is \e.ʃa.pa\ while échappé is \e.ʃa.pe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “échappa” becomes é in “échappé”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échappa is recorded at frequency rank #39,111, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃa.pa\. échappé is at rank #6,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ʃa.pe\.
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 45561, this pair ranks #201,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of échappa vs échappé
Shared letters: achpé. Private to "échappa": -. Private to "échappé": -.
"échappa" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "échappé" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "échappa" and "échappé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "échappa" or "échappé" 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 "échappa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "échappé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échappa" and "échappé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échappa vs échoppe". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #201,803 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.