rapprochervsrapprochésWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#5,697
“rapprocher” frequency rank
#24,004
“rapprochés” frequency rank
29701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rapprocher rapprochés
Definition Approcher de nouveau. Masculin pluriel de rapproché.

Same sound, different letters: rapprocher vs rapprochés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. rapprocher and rapprochés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
rapprocher
10 ch
rapprochés

Ear matches; page differs - rapprocher and rapprochés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: rapprocher and rapprochés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁa.pʁɔ.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rapprocher is recorded at frequency rank #5,697, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁa.pʁɔ.ʃe\. 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 29701, this pair ranks #315,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rapprocher vs rapprochés

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

"rapprocher" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "rapprochés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rapprocher ← arpprocher · rapporcher · rapprcoher · rapproccher · rapprocehr · rapprocherr · rapprochher · rapprochre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rapprocher" and "rapprochés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rapprocher" is a verb and "rapprochés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rapprocher" or "rapprochés"?
"rapprocher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,697 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.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "rapprocher" / "rapprochés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rapprocher" 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 #315,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rapprocher" 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 #315,026 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