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'Identical', 'similar', 'alike': why French says 'à', not 'comme' or 'que'

When English speakers compare two things, they reach for like, as or than. French does the same with comme and que, so it feels natural to say identique que or similaire comme. With a small group of words, though, French introduces the thing you compare with using à: identique à, semblable à, similaire à, and the verb ressembler à.

The trap is English the same as and looks like. Those phrases push you towards que or comme, but these French words don't care how English builds the comparison. They always take à.

Word list
identiqueB1 same identique à qqch = identical to / the same as ressemblerB1 to look like ressembler à qqn = to look like sb semblableB1 similar semblable à qqch = similar similaireB1 similar similaire à qqch = similar
How it works

The pattern is simple: the word, then à, then the thing being compared. Remember that à merges with the articles le and les: à + le = au, à + les = aux. That is why you often see similaire au vôtre or identique aux autres.

Cette clé est identique à la mienne.
(This key is the same as mine.)
Nous avons rencontré un problème similaire au vôtre.
(We ran into a problem similar to yours.)

A helpful rule of thumb: if the English sentence could be rephrased with identical to or similar to, French uses à, even when English actually says the same as. The other adjectives in this family, such as comparable and analogue, work the same way.

The words

identique means identical or exactly the same. When followed by the thing being compared, it takes à. Without it, it simply stands on its own: Ces choses sont identiques.

La copie est identique à l'original.
(The copy is identical to the original.)
Ton sac est presque identique au mien.
(Your bag is almost the same as mine.)

semblable and similaire both mean similar. Semblable sounds slightly more literary, while similaire is very common in everyday and technical language. Both take à.

Je cherche un manteau semblable à celui-ci.
(I'm looking for a coat similar to this one.)
Ce téléphone est similaire à un autre modèle de la marque.
(This phone is similar to another model from the brand.)

ressembler is a verb, but it follows the same logic. English says resemble someone or look like someone, while French says ressembler à quelqu'un. There is never a comme.

Tu ressembles à ta mère.
(You look like your mother.)
Leur maison ressemble aux maisons de mon village.
(Their house looks like the houses in my village.)
Watch out

The most common mistake comes straight from English: identique que or similaire comme. Both are wrong. However, le même que really does use que, so don't mix the two constructions. Choose one: either le même que or identique à.

J'ai le même vélo que toi.
(I have the same bike as you.)

The opposite, différent, takes de: différent de, never différent que.

Son avis est différent du mien.
(His opinion is different from mine.)

With ressembler, a person becomes an indirect object pronoun, placed before the verb: Il lui ressemble (He looks like him or her). Use se ressembler when two people look alike.

Les deux sœurs se ressemblent beaucoup.
(The two sisters look very much alike.)
Summary

With identique, semblable, similaire and ressembler, the thing you compare with is always introduced by à (becoming au or aux where needed), whatever English uses. Keep que for le même que, and use de after différent.