première
\pʁə.mjɛʁ\
The verdict
“première” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #165 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #165
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom que l’on donne à la toute première représentation publique d’un spectacle, d’un film, d’une pièce de théâtre, etc, d'une opération chirurgicale, d'une ascension par une nouvelle voie, etc.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | première |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pʁə.mjɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #165 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “première” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for première is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #165 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for première, with forms such as "permière", "ppremière", and "preimère". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "prière", "premiers", "prémisse", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is première, spelled P-R-E-M-I-È-R-E.
Definition
- 1Nom que l’on donne à la toute première représentation publique d’un spectacle, d’un film, d’une pièce de théâtre, etc, d'une opération chirurgicale, d'une ascension par une nouvelle voie, etc.
- 2Chose faite pour la première fois dans un secteur d'activité, un domaine ou une zone géographique donnés.
- 3Nom donné à tout événement qui ne s’était jusqu’alors jamais produit.
- 4Avant-dernière classe du lycée, entre la seconde et la terminale, pour les adolescents de 16-17 ans.
- 5masculin et féminin identiques Élève de cette classe.
- 6Première classe d’un train, d’un tramway, d’un bateau, d'un avion.
- 7Première loge d'un théâtre.
- 8Premier palier de vitesse d’un véhicule doté d’une boîte de vitesses, première vitesse.
- 9Ouvrière qualifiée tenant la fonction de contremaître dans un atelier de couture. Appelée aussi première main.
- 10Nom donné à différentes couches composant la semelle d’une chaussure.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: permière,ppremière,preimère,premiere,premirèe,premièer,premièrre,premmière,premèire,prmeière,prremière,rpemière
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of première - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "première"?
What does "première" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "première"?
How do you pronounce "première"?
What language does "première" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “première”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-R-E-M-I-È-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pʁə.mjɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “prière” - see the side-by-side comparison. première vs prière
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.