gâchervsgarderWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,714
“gâcher” frequency rank
#1,113
“garder” frequency rank
11827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gâcher garder
Definition Délayer du plâtre, du mortier avec de l’eau. Veiller ou surveiller étroitement.

Where the eye mixes gâcher and garder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gâcher
6 ch
garder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gâcher (\ɡɑ.ʃe\) and garder (\ɡaʁ.de\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gâcher is recorded at frequency rank #10,714, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡɑ.ʃe\. garder is at rank #1,113, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡaʁ.de\.

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 11827, this pair ranks #407,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gâcher vs garder

Shared letters: egr. Private to "gâcher": châ. Private to "garder": ad.

"gâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "garder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • garderagrder · gadrer · gardder · garderr · gardre · garedr · garrder · ggarder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gâcher" and "garder" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɑ.ʃe\ versus \ɡaʁ.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gâcher" or "garder"?
"garder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,113 in our French list, against #10,714 for "gâcher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list