penchésvsprochesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,095
“penchés” frequency rank
#1,673
“proches” frequency rank
37768
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature penchés proches
Definition Masculin pluriel de penché. Pluriel de proche.

Where the eye mixes penchés and proches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. penchés (CVCCCVC) and proches (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
penchés
7 ch
proches

Visual trap between penchés and proches

A purely visual mix-up. penchés (\pɑ̃.ʃe\) and proches (\pʁɔʃ\) 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 37768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

penchés is recorded at frequency rank #36,095, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɑ̃.ʃe\. proches is at rank #1,673, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔʃ\.

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 37768, this pair ranks #260,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of penchés vs proches

Shared letters: cehps. Private to "penchés": né. Private to "proches": or.

"penchés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "proches" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • proches ← porches · pproches · prcohes · procches · procehs · prochess · prochhes · prochse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "penchés" and "proches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.ʃe\ versus \pʁɔʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "penchés" or "proches"?
"proches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,673 in our French list, against #36,095 for "penchés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "penchés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "penchés" and "proches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pencha vs penchés". 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 #260,065 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