potesvsprocèsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,488
“potes” frequency rank
#1,274
“procès” frequency rank
4762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature potes procès
Definition Pluriel de pote. Instance, procédure engagée devant un juge et portant sur un différend, un litige opposant deux ou plusieurs parties.

Where the eye mixes potes and procès

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
potes
6 ch
procès

Visual trap between potes and procès

A purely visual mix-up. potes (\pɔt\) and procès (\pʁɔ.sɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

potes is recorded at frequency rank #3,488, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔt\. procès is at rank #1,274, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.sɛ\.

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 4762, this pair ranks #430,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of potes vs procès

Shared letters: ops. Private to "potes": et. Private to "procès": crè.

"potes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "procès" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potesoptes · poets · potess · pottes · ppotes · ptoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "potes" and "procès" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɔt\ versus \pʁɔ.sɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "potes" or "procès"?
"procès" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,274 in our French list, against #3,488 for "potes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "potes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "procès" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "potes" and "procès" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pontet vs potes". 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 #430,760 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list