échappavséchapperConfusable pair

Which to use

“échappa” and “échapper” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,111
“échappa” frequency rank
#2,975
“échapper” frequency rank
42086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature échappa échapper
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de échapper. Se sauver des mains de quelqu’un, d’une prison, de quelque péril, etc.

Where the eye mixes échappa and échapper

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. échappa runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against échapper's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
échappa
8 ch
échapper

Look-alike desk: échappa vs échapper

A purely visual mix-up. échappa (\e.ʃa.pa\) and échapper (\e.ʃa.pe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42086, 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\. échapper is at rank #2,975, tagged as averb, 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 42086, this pair ranks #228,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of échappa vs échapper

Shared letters: achpé. Private to "échappa": -. Private to "échapper": er.

"échappa" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "échapper" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "échappa" and "échapper" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.ʃa.pa\ versus \e.ʃa.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "échappa" or "échapper" show up more?
"échapper" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,975 in our French list, against #39,111 for "échappa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "échapper" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "échappa" and "échapper" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échappa vs échoppe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #228,337 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