Which to use
“plier” and “priée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,215
- “plier” frequency rank
- #49,295
- “priée” frequency rank
- 58510
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plier | priée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mettre en double une ou plusieurs fois, en parlant du linge, des étoffes, du papier, etc. | Participe passé féminin singulier de prier. |
Where the eye mixes plier and priée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between plier and priée
A purely visual mix-up. plier (\pli.je\) and priée (\pʁi.je\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plier is recorded at frequency rank #9,215, classified as averb, pronounced \pli.je\. priée is at rank #49,295, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.je\.
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 58510, this pair ranks #108,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of plier vs priée
Shared letters: eipr. Private to "plier": l. Private to "priée": é.
"plier" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "priée" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- plier ← lpier · piler · pleir · plierr · plire · pllier · pplier
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "plier" for "priée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "plier" or "priée" show up more?
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 "plier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "priée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plier" and "priée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs priée". 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 #108,636 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.