permisvsprisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“permis” and “pris” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#827
“permis” frequency rank
#302
“pris” frequency rank
1129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permis pris
Definition Qui n’est pas interdit. Occupé, pas disponible.

Where the eye mixes permis and pris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
permis
4 ch
pris

Visual trap between permis and pris

A purely visual mix-up. permis (\pɛʁ.mi\) and pris (\pʁi\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permis is recorded at frequency rank #827, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.mi\. pris is at rank #302, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁi\.

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 1129, this pair ranks #438,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permis vs pris

Shared letters: iprs. Private to "permis": em. Private to "pris": -.

"permis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiseprmis · pemris · perims · permiss · permmis · permsi · perrmis · ppermis
  • prispirs · ppris · priss · prris · prsi · rpis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "permis" and "pris" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.mi\ versus \pʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "permis" vs "pris" - which ranks higher?
"pris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #302 in our French list, against #827 for "permis". 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 "permis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #438,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permis" and "pris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs pris". 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 #438,583 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