Which to use
“précédent” is an adjective and “précisent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,011
- “précédent” frequency rank
- #20,534
- “précisent” frequency rank
- 22545
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | précédent | précisent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui précède, qui est immédiatement avant, en parlant ordinairement par rapport au temps. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de préciser. |
Where the eye mixes précédent and précisent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. précédent and précisent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between précédent and précisent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: précédent is \pʁe.se.dɑ̃\ while précisent is \pʁe.siz\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
précédent is recorded at frequency rank #2,011, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.se.dɑ̃\. précisent is at rank #20,534, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.siz\.
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 22545, this pair ranks #357,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of précédent vs précisent
Shared letters: cenprté. Private to "précédent": d. Private to "précisent": is.
"précédent" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC · "précisent" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "précédent" and "précisent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "précédent" or "précisent" 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 "précédent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "précisent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "précédent" and "précisent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prêchent vs précisent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #357,405 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.