Which to use
“pécher” and “piocher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,988
- “pécher” frequency rank
- #33,834
- “piocher” frequency rank
- 71822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pécher | piocher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Transgresser la loi divine ou religieuse. | Fouir, remuer avec une pioche. |
Where the eye mixes pécher and piocher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pécher with piocher
A purely visual mix-up. pécher (\pe.ʃe\) and piocher (\pjɔ.ʃe\) 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 71822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pécher is recorded at frequency rank #37,988, classified as averb, pronounced \pe.ʃe\. piocher is at rank #33,834, tagged as averb, pronounced \pjɔ.ʃe\.
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 71822, this pair ranks #46,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pécher vs piocher
Shared letters: cehpr. Private to "pécher": é. Private to "piocher": io.
"pécher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "piocher" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- piocher ← ipocher · picoher · pioccher · piocehr · piocherr · piochher · piochre · piohcer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pécher" for "piocher" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pécher" or "piocher"?
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 "pécher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piocher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pécher" and "piocher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pécher vs peler". 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 #46,169 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.