rapprochevsrapprochésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rapproche is a verb, rapprochés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rapproche” is a verb and “rapprochés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,491
“rapproche” frequency rank
#24,004
“rapprochés” frequency rank
29495
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rapproche rapprochés
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de rapprocher. Masculin pluriel de rapproché.

Where the eye mixes rapproche and rapprochés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. rapproche runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCCV) against rapprochés's 10 (CVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
rapproche
10 ch
rapprochés

Why the eye confuses rapproche with rapprochés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rapproche is \ʁa.pʁɔʃ\ while rapprochés is \ʁa.pʁɔ.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rapproche is recorded at frequency rank #5,491, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁa.pʁɔʃ\. rapprochés is at rank #24,004, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁa.pʁɔ.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 29495, this pair ranks #316,316 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rapproche vs rapprochés

Shared letters: achopr. Private to "rapproche": e. Private to "rapprochés": sé.

"rapproche" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV  ·  "rapprochés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rapproche ← arpproche · rapporche · rapprcohe · rapprocche · rapproceh · rapprochhe · rapprohce · rapprroche

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rapproche" and "rapprochés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rapproche" is a verb and "rapprochés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "rapproche" or "rapprochés" show up more?
"rapproche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,491 in our French list, against #24,004 for "rapprochés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "rapproche" and "rapprochés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rapproche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rapprochés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,316 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rapproche" and "rapprochés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rapprochées vs rapprochés". 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 #316,316 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