Which to use
“pause” and “prise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,730
- “pause” frequency rank
- #758
- “prise” frequency rank
- 3488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pause | prise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suspension ou interruption momentanée d’une action. | Faculté de prendre, de saisir. |
Where the eye mixes pause and prise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pause vs prise
A purely visual mix-up. pause (\poz\) and prise (\pʁiz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pause is recorded at frequency rank #2,730, classified as anoun, pronounced \poz\. prise is at rank #758, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁiz\.
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 3488, this pair ranks #433,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pause vs prise
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pause": au. Private to "prise": ir.
"pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "prise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pause" and "prise" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pause" vs "prise" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pause" and "prise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pause" and "prise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pause vs prude". 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 #433,904 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.