Which to use
“tache” is a noun and “tacite” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,314
- “tache” frequency rank
- #20,585
- “tacite” frequency rank
- 28899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tache | tacite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Souillure sur quelque chose ; marque qui salit. | Qui n’est pas formellement exprimé, mais qui est sous-entendu, ou qui peut se sous-entendre. |
Where the eye mixes tache and tacite
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tache and tacite
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tache is \taʃ\ while tacite is \ta.sit\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tache is recorded at frequency rank #8,314, classified as anoun, pronounced \taʃ\. tacite is at rank #20,585, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ta.sit\.
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 28899, this pair ranks #319,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tache vs tacite
Shared letters: acet. Private to "tache": h. Private to "tacite": i.
"tache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tacite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tache" for "tacite" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tache" or "tacite"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tache" and "tacite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tacite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tache" and "tacite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tacite vs tarit". 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 #319,946 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.