pincéevsprincesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,080
“pincée” frequency rank
#6,425
“princes” frequency rank
35505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pincée princes
Definition Ce qu’on peut prendre de certaines choses, en les pinçant entre deux ou trois doigts. Pluriel de prince.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pincée and princes apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
pincée
7 ch
princes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pincée (\pɛ̃.se\) and princes (\pʁɛ̃s\) 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 35505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pincée is recorded at frequency rank #29,080, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃.se\. princes is at rank #6,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ̃s\.

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 35505, this pair ranks #276,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pincée vs princes

Shared letters: ceinp. Private to "pincée": é. Private to "princes": rs.

"pincée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "princes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • princespirnces · pprinces · pricnes · princces · princse · prinecs · prinnces · prnices

Frequency comparison

pincée#29,080
princes#6,425

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pincée" and "princes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛ̃.se\ versus \pʁɛ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pincée" or "princes"?
"princes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,425 in our French list, against #29,080 for "pincée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pincée vs princes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pincée” 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