Which to use
“paires” is an adjective and “priés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,282
- “paires” frequency rank
- #27,197
- “priés” frequency rank
- 35479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paires | priés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de pair. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de prier. |
Where the eye mixes paires and priés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses paires with priés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paires is \pɛʁ\ while priés is \pʁi.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paires is recorded at frequency rank #8,282, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ\. priés is at rank #27,197, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.je\.
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 35479, this pair ranks #276,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paires vs priés
Shared letters: iprs. Private to "paires": ae. Private to "priés": é.
"paires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "priés" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paires ← apires · paiers · pairess · pairres · pairse · paries · piares · ppaires
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paires" and "priés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paires" vs "priés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "paires" and "priés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "priés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paires" and "priés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs priés". 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 #276,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.