Which to use
“partition” and “pétition” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,046
- “partition” frequency rank
- #5,597
- “pétition” frequency rank
- 15643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | partition | pétition |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | L’ensemble ou la réunion de toutes les parties d’une composition musicale, écrites les unes au-dessous des autres, de manière à se correspondre exactement. | Action de demander. |
Where the eye mixes partition and pétition
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. partition runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against pétition's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: partition vs pétition
A purely visual mix-up. partition (\paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\) and pétition (\pe.ti.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
partition is recorded at frequency rank #10,046, classified as anoun, pronounced \paʁ.ti.sjɔ̃\. pétition is at rank #5,597, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.ti.sjɔ̃\.
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 15643, this pair ranks #391,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of partition vs pétition
Shared letters: inopt. Private to "partition": ar. Private to "pétition": é.
"partition" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "pétition" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- partition ← aprtition · parittion · parrtition · partiiton · partitino · partitionn · partitoin · partittion
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "partition" for "pétition" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "partition" or "pétition" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "partition" and "pétition" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "partition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pétition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "partition" and "pétition" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partition vs perdition". 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 #391,481 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.