Which to use
“pré” and “preux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,849
- “pré” frequency rank
- #39,466
- “preux” frequency rank
- 42315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pré | preux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Champ où pousse de l’herbe (naturelle ou cultivée), où l’on recueille du foin, ou qui sert au pâturage. | Chevalier. |
Where the eye mixes pré and preux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pré vs preux
A purely visual mix-up. pré (\pʁe\) and preux (\pʁø\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pré is recorded at frequency rank #2,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe\. preux is at rank #39,466, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁø\.
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 42315, this pair ranks #226,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pré vs preux
Shared letters: pr. Private to "pré": é. Private to "preux": eux.
"pré" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "preux" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- preux ← perux · ppreux · preuxx · prexu · prreux · pruex · rpeux
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pré" and "preux" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pré" or "preux" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "preux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #226,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pré" and "preux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs preux". 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 #226,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.