Which to use
“empêche” is a noun and “empoche” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,122
- “empêche” frequency rank
- #43,408
- “empoche” frequency rank
- 45530
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empêche | empoche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui porte malheur aux pêcheurs. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de empocher. |
Where the eye mixes empêche and empoche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. empêche and empoche follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between empêche and empoche
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empêche is \ɑ̃.pɛʃ\ while empoche is \ɑ̃.pɔʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - ê in “empêche” becomes o in “empoche”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empêche is recorded at frequency rank #2,122, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛʃ\. empoche is at rank #43,408, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɔʃ\.
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 45530, this pair ranks #202,058 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empêche vs empoche
Shared letters: cehmp. Private to "empêche": ê. Private to "empoche": o.
"empêche" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "empoche" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- empoche ← emmpoche · emopche · empcohe · empocche · empoceh · empochhe · empohce · emppoche
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empêche" and "empoche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "empêche" or "empoche"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "empêche" and "empoche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "empêche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empoche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,058 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empêche" and "empoche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empoche vs empocher". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #202,058 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.