rapprochervsreprocherTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,697
“rapprocher” frequency rank
#7,754
“reprocher” frequency rank
13451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rapprocher reprocher
Definition Approcher de nouveau. Imputer la faute à quelqu’un, en l’en blâmant, en lui en faisant des remontrances.

Where the eye mixes rapprocher and reprocher

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

10 ch
rapprocher
9 ch
reprocher

Why the eye confuses rapprocher with reprocher

A purely visual mix-up. rapprocher (\ʁa.pʁɔ.ʃe\) and reprocher (\ʁə.pʁɔ.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 13451, 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\. reprocher is at rank #7,754, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.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 13451, this pair ranks #400,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rapprocher vs reprocher

Shared letters: cehopr. Private to "rapprocher": a. Private to "reprocher": -.

"rapprocher" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "reprocher" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rapprocher ← arpprocher · rapporcher · rapprcoher · rapproccher · rapprocehr · rapprocherr · rapprochher · rapprochre
  • reprocher ← erprocher · reporcher · repprocher · reprcoher · reproccher · reprocehr · reprocherr · reprochher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rapprocher" for "reprocher" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa.pʁɔ.ʃe\ versus \ʁə.pʁɔ.ʃe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rapprocher" or "reprocher"?
"rapprocher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,697 in our French list, against #7,754 for "reprocher". 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 "rapprocher" and "reprocher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rapprocher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reprocher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rapprocher" and "reprocher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recracher vs reprocher". 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 #400,990 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