Which to use
“gâche” is a noun and “gâtée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,895
- “gâche” frequency rank
- #31,984
- “gâtée” frequency rank
- 47879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gâche | gâtée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie d’une serrure dans laquelle le pêne s’insère pour maintenir une porte fermée. | Féminin singulier de gâté. |
Where the eye mixes gâche and gâtée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gâche (CVCCV) and gâtée (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: gâche vs gâtée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gâche is \ɡɑʃ\ while gâtée is \ɡɑ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gâche is recorded at frequency rank #15,895, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɑʃ\. gâtée is at rank #31,984, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡɑ.te\.
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 47879, this pair ranks #183,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gâche vs gâtée
Shared letters: egâ. Private to "gâche": ch. Private to "gâtée": té.
"gâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "gâtée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gâche" and "gâtée" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "gâche" or "gâtée"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gâche" and "gâtée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gâtée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gâche" and "gâtée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gabe vs gâtée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #183,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.