paraîtrevsparamètreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paraître is a verb, paramètre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paraître” is a verb and “paramètre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,700
“paraître” frequency rank
#15,957
“paramètre” frequency rank
19657
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paraître paramètre
Definition Être exposé à la vue ; se faire ou se laisser voir ; se manifester. Constante qui fixe la position d’une figure géométrique. Il a différentes acceptions selon les courbes auxquelles on l’applique.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paraître and paramètre apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
paraître
9 ch
paramètre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paraître is \pa.ʁɛtʁ\ while paramètre is \pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paraître is recorded at frequency rank #3,700, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁɛtʁ\. paramètre is at rank #15,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\.

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 19657, this pair ranks #372,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paraître vs paramètre

Shared letters: aeprt. Private to "paraître": î. Private to "paramètre": .

"paraître" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "paramètre" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV

Frequency comparison

paraître#3,700
paramètre#15,957

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paraître" and "paramètre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paraître" is a verb and "paramètre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paraître" or "paramètre"?
"paraître" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,700 in our French list, against #15,957 for "paramètre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering paraître vs paramètre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “paraître”; for a noun, it's “paramètre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paraître” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list