précédésvspréceptesConfusable pair

Quick tell: précédés is a verb, préceptes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“précédés” is a verb and “préceptes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,414
“précédés” frequency rank
#22,382
“préceptes” frequency rank
55796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature précédés préceptes
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de précéder. Pluriel de précepte.

Where the eye mixes précédés and préceptes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. précédés runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVC) against préceptes's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
précédés
9 ch
préceptes

Look-alike desk: précédés vs préceptes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: précédés is \pʁe.se.de\ while préceptes is \pʁe.sɛpt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

précédés is recorded at frequency rank #33,414, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.se.de\. préceptes is at rank #22,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.sɛpt\.

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 55796, this pair ranks #125,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of précédés vs préceptes

Shared letters: cprsé. Private to "précédés": d. Private to "préceptes": et.

"précédés" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "préceptes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "précédés" and "préceptes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "précédés" is a verb and "préceptes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "précédés" or "préceptes"?
"préceptes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,382 in our French list, against #33,414 for "précédés". 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 "précédés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "préceptes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "précédés" and "préceptes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "précédées vs précédés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #125,194 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