plusvsprèsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31
“plus” frequency rank
#294
“près” frequency rank
325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plus près
Definition Comparatif de beaucoup. On peut l’utiliser avec que. (\plys\) À petite distance, à proximité.

Where the eye mixes plus and près

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
plus
4 ch
près

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. plus (\ply\) and près (\pʁɛ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plus is recorded at frequency rank #31, classified as anadv, pronounced \ply\. près is at rank #294, tagged as anadv, pronounced \pʁɛ\.

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 325, this pair ranks #439,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of plus vs près

Shared letters: ps. Private to "plus": lu. Private to "près": .

"plus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "près" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pluslpus · pllus · plsu · pluss · pplus · puls

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plus" and "près" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ply\ versus \pʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "plus" or "près"?
"plus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31 in our French list, against #294 for "près". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list