prison

\pʁi.zɔ̃\

/\pʁi.zɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“prison” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #951. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#951
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Endroit clos où sont enfermées les personnes condamnées à une peine de privation de liberté ou les prévenus en attente de jugement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prison · prison · French

prison · rank #951 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #951
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH preuve

Nearest frequency peer: preuve (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « prison »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « prison » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

prison vs Proton
50% similar
prison vs prisons
86% similar
prison vs pris
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for prison
PropertyValue
Headwordprison
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pʁi.zɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#951
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « prison »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).prisonse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « preuve » (#950), « premières » (#949), « vendredi » (#953). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « prison » est au #951. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around prison (IPA \pʁi.zɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #951 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for prison, with forms such as "pirson", "pprison", and "priosn". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Proton", "prisons", "pris", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is prison, spelled P-R-I-S-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Endroit clos où sont enfermées les personnes condamnées à une peine de privation de liberté ou les prévenus en attente de jugement.
  2. 2
    Peine afflictive subie dans un tel lieu ; emprisonnement.
  3. 3
    Ce qui tient enfermé quelqu’un ou quelque chose.
  4. 4
    Lieu sombre et triste.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how prison appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Une insulte faite au baylon (syndic) est punie d’une amende de dix écus, et même de la prison, à la diligence du viguier ; le délinquant ne sortait de prison que sur l’intervention du syndic.
  2. Nos terroristes du quinzième et du seizième siècle ont été des moines. Les prisons monastiques furent toujours les plus cruelles.

Synonyms

aubergecabanecabanoncachotchartrecelluleCRAcentre de détentioncentre de rétention administrativecentrouseen dedansergastuleFresnesgeôlegnouflocal de rétention administrativelorceféSantémaison centralemaison d’arrêtmaison de correctionmaison de détentionmaison de forcemitardpénitencierplacardpourpoint de pierreséchoirtauletrouviolonzonprizonzzonzon

This word in other languages

prison(English)cárcel(Español)Gefängnis(Deutsch)cadeia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pirson
  • pprison
  • priosn
  • prisno
  • prisonn
  • prisson
  • prrison
  • prsion
  • rpison

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prison - 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.

pirson2pprison1priosn2prisno2prisonn1prisson1prrison1prsion2
Edit distance from "prison"

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 "prison"?
"prison" is spelled P-R-I-S-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁi.zɔ̃\.
What does "prison" mean?
As a noun, "prison" means: Endroit clos où sont enfermées les personnes condamnées à une peine de privation de liberté ou les prévenus en attente de jugement.
What words are commonly confused with "prison"?
"prison" is commonly confused with "Proton", "prisons", "pris". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prison"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prison" is \pʁi.zɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prison" come from?
"prison" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prison", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

preuve#950maître#946devenu#937dehors#935

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

joueurs9 variantsmédias9 variantsforces9 variantsMichel9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list