retranchévsretrancherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,367
“retranché” frequency rank
#36,135
“retrancher” frequency rank
60502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retranché retrancher
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de retrancher. Séparer une partie du tout, ôter quelque chose d’un tout.

Same sound, different letters: retranché vs retrancher

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. retranché runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCCV) against retrancher's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
retranché
10 ch
retrancher

Homophone desk: retranché vs retrancher

This is the hard kind. retranché and retrancher are pronounced identically (\ʁə.tʁɑ̃.ʃe\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retranché is recorded at frequency rank #24,367, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tʁɑ̃.ʃe\. retrancher is at rank #36,135, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tʁɑ̃.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 60502, this pair ranks #97,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of retranché vs retrancher

Shared letters: acehnrt. Private to "retranché": é. Private to "retrancher": -.

"retranché" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "retrancher" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retrancher ← ertrancher · rertancher · retarncher · retracnher · retranccher · retrancehr · retrancherr · retranchher

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retranché" and "retrancher" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁə.tʁɑ̃.ʃe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "retranché" vs "retrancher" - which ranks higher?
"retranché" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,367 in our French list, against #36,135 for "retrancher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "retranché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retrancher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retranché" and "retrancher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recracher vs retrancher". 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 #97,258 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