empêchavsempêcheraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,520
“empêcha” frequency rank
#13,586
“empêchera” frequency rank
48106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empêcha empêchera
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de empêcher. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de empêcher.

Where the eye mixes empêcha and empêchera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. empêcha runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against empêchera's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
empêcha
9 ch
empêchera

Visual trap between empêcha and empêchera

A purely visual mix-up. empêcha (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa\) and empêchera (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃə.ʁa\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empêcha is recorded at frequency rank #34,520, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa\. empêchera is at rank #13,586, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃə.ʁa\.

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 48106, this pair ranks #181,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empêcha vs empêchera

Shared letters: acehmpê. Private to "empêcha": -. Private to "empêchera": r.

"empêcha" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "empêchera" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "empêcha" and "empêchera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃa\ versus \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "empêcha" vs "empêchera" - which ranks higher?
"empêchera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,586 in our French list, against #34,520 for "empêcha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "empêcha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empêchera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empêcha" and "empêchera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empêcha vs empoche". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #181,576 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