pirevsPMRWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pire is a adjective, PMR is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pire” is an adjective and “PMR” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#659
“pire” frequency rank
#48,720
“PMR” frequency rank
49379
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pire PMR
Definition Comparatif de mauvais. Plus mauvais, plus défectueux, plus nuisible. Personne à mobilité réduite ; par exemple, personne qui se déplace en fauteuil roulant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pire and PMR apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pire
3 ch
PMR

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pire is \piʁ\ while PMR is \pe.ɛm.ɛʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pire is recorded at frequency rank #659, classified as anadj, pronounced \piʁ\. PMR is at rank #48,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.ɛm.ɛʁ\.

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 49379, this pair ranks #171,181 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pire vs PMR

Shared letters: pr. Private to "pire": ei. Private to "PMR": m.

"pire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "PMR" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pireipre · pirre · ppire · prie

Frequency comparison

pire#659
PMR#48,720

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pire" and "PMR" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pire" is an adjective and "PMR" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pire" or "PMR"?
"pire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #659 in our French list, against #48,720 for "PMR". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pire vs PMR

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “pire”; for a noun, it's “PMR”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pire” 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