Which to use
“1ère” and “premières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,720
- “1ère” frequency rank
- #949
- “premières” frequency rank
- 6669
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | 1ère | premières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première. | Féminin pluriel de premier. |
Same sound, different letters: 1ère vs premières
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. 1ère runs 3 letters (VCV) against premières's 9 (CCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - 1ère and premières
This is the hard kind. 1ère and premières are pronounced identically (\pʁə.mjɛʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 5 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
1ère is recorded at frequency rank #5,720, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. premières is at rank #949, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\.
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 6669, this pair ranks #425,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of 1ère vs premières
Shared letters: erè. Private to "1ère": -. Private to "premières": imps.
"1ère" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "premières" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "1ère" for "premières" ever safe?
Which is more common, "1ère" or "premières"?
What to do next
"1ère" and "premières" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "1ère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "1ère" and "premières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "premières vs prémisses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #425,583 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.