parsvspréTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,278
“pars” frequency rank
#2,849
“pré” frequency rank
6127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pars pré
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe partir. Champ où pousse de l’herbe (naturelle ou cultivée), où l’on recueille du foin, ou qui sert au pâturage.

Where the eye mixes pars and pré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pars
3 ch
pré

Visual trap between pars and pré

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pars is \paʁ\ while pré is \pʁe\. 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 6127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pars is recorded at frequency rank #3,278, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ\. pré is at rank #2,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁe\.

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 6127, this pair ranks #427,105 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pars vs pré

Shared letters: pr. Private to "pars": as. Private to "pré": é.

"pars" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pré" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parsaprs · parrs · parss · pasr · ppars · pras

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pars" and "pré" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pars" is a verb and "pré" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pars" or "pré"?
"pré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,849 in our French list, against #3,278 for "pars". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pars" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,105 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pars" and "pré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pré vs prep". 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 #427,105 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