pliésvspriésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pliés is a noun, priés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pliés” is a noun and “priés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,634
“pliés” frequency rank
#27,197
“priés” frequency rank
71831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pliés priés
Definition Pluriel de plié. Participe passé masculin pluriel de prier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pliés and priés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pliés
5 ch
priés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pliés is \pli.je\ while priés is \pʁi.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “pliés” becomes r in “priés”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pliés is recorded at frequency rank #44,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \pli.je\. priés is at rank #27,197, 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 71831, this pair ranks #46,129 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pliés vs priés

Shared letters: ipsé. Private to "pliés": l. Private to "priés": r.

"pliés" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "priés" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Frequency comparison

pliés#44,634
priés#27,197

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pliés" and "priés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pliés" is a noun and "priés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pliés" or "priés"?
"priés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,197 in our French list, against #44,634 for "pliés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pliés vs priés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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