# profess

> English word · Verb · IPA /pɹəˈfɛs/ · frequency rank #31,301

## Definitions
1. To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order.
2. To declare oneself (to be something).
3. To declare; to assert, affirm.
4. To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity.
5. To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.).
6. To work as a professor of; to teach.
7. To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter).

## Etymology
From Old French professer, and its source, the participle stem of Latin profitērī, from pro- + fatērī (“to confess, acknowledge”).

## Easily confused with
- **proves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-proves)
- **protest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-protest)
- **profits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-profits)
- **prowess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-prowess)
- **Proteus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-proteus)
- **progress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-progress)
- **professor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-professor)
- **professed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-professed)
- **press** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/press-vs-profess)
- **process** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/process-vs-profess)

## Common misspellings (9)
`porfess`, `pprofess`, `prfoess`, `proefss`, `profes`, `proffess`, `profses`, `prrofess`, `rpofess`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/profess