Which to use
“tache” and “thé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,314
- “tache” frequency rank
- #3,575
- “thé” frequency rank
- 11889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tache | thé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Souillure sur quelque chose ; marque qui salit. | Boisson chaude préparée à partir d’une infusion de feuilles du théier. |
Where the eye mixes tache and thé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tache with thé
A purely visual mix-up. tache (\taʃ\) and thé (\te\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11889, 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\. thé is at rank #3,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced \te\.
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 11889, this pair ranks #407,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tache vs thé
Shared letters: ht. Private to "tache": ace. Private to "thé": é.
"tache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "thé" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tache ← atche · tacche · taceh · tachhe · tahce · tcahe · ttache
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tache" and "thé" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tache" or "thé" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tache" and "thé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tache vs teach". 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 #407,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.