Which to use
“pommier” is a noun and “premier” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,915
- “pommier” frequency rank
- #145
- “premier” frequency rank
- 30060
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pommier | premier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arbre de la famille des Rosacées, du genre Malus, qui produit les pommes. | Adjectif numéral ordinal correspondant au nombre 1. |
Where the eye mixes pommier and premier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pommier (CVCCVVC) and premier (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses pommier with premier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pommier is \pɔ.mje\ while premier is \pʁə.mje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pommier is recorded at frequency rank #29,915, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.mje\. premier is at rank #145, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mje\.
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 30060, this pair ranks #312,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pommier vs premier
Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "pommier": o. Private to "premier": -.
"pommier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "premier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pommier" for "premier" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pommier" or "premier" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pommier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pommier" and "premier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pommier vs postier". 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 #312,725 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.