précédésvsprécisésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,414
“précédés” frequency rank
#38,991
“précisés” frequency rank
72405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature précédés précisés
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de précéder. Participe passé masculin pluriel de préciser.

Where the eye mixes précédés and précisés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. précédés and précisés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
précédés
8 ch
précisés

Why the eye confuses précédés with précisés

A purely visual mix-up. précédés (\pʁe.se.de\) and précisés (\pʁe.si.ze\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72405, 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\. précisés is at rank #38,991, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.si.ze\.

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 72405, this pair ranks #44,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of précédés vs précisés

Shared letters: cprsé. Private to "précédés": d. Private to "précisés": i.

"précédés" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "précisés" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "précédés" for "précisés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.se.de\ versus \pʁe.si.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "précédés" or "précisés" show up more?
"précédés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,414 in our French list, against #38,991 for "précisés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "précédés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "précisés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "précédés" and "précisés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "précisés vs précitée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,114 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