empoisonnervsemprisonnésConfusable pair

Quick tell: empoisonner is a verb, emprisonnés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empoisonner” is a verb and “emprisonnés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,640
“empoisonner” frequency rank
#20,998
“emprisonnés” frequency rank
46638
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empoisonner emprisonnés
Definition Faire mourir ou essayer de faire mourir par le poison. Masculin pluriel de emprisonné.

Where the eye mixes empoisonner and emprisonnés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. empoisonner (VCCVVCVCCVC) and emprisonnés (VCCCVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
empoisonner
11 ch
emprisonnés

Why the eye confuses empoisonner with emprisonnés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empoisonner is \ɑ̃.pwa.zɔ.ne\ while emprisonnés is \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empoisonner is recorded at frequency rank #25,640, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pwa.zɔ.ne\. emprisonnés is at rank #20,998, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\.

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 46638, this pair ranks #193,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empoisonner vs emprisonnés

Shared letters: eimnoprs. Private to "empoisonner": -. Private to "emprisonnés": é.

"empoisonner" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVCVCCVC  ·  "emprisonnés" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empoisonner ← emmpoisonner · emopisonner · empiosonner · empoiosnner · empoisnoner · empoisonenr · empoisoner · empoisonnerr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "empoisonner" and "emprisonnés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empoisonner" is a verb and "emprisonnés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "empoisonner" vs "emprisonnés" - which ranks higher?
"emprisonnés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,998 in our French list, against #25,640 for "empoisonner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "empoisonner" and "emprisonnés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "empoisonner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "emprisonnés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #193,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empoisonner" and "emprisonnés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empoisonner vs emprisonne". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #193,363 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list