préceptesvsprécepteurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,382
“préceptes” frequency rank
#29,091
“précepteur” frequency rank
51473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature préceptes précepteur
Definition Pluriel de précepte. Celui qui est chargé de l’instruction et de l’éducation d’un enfant, d’un jeune homme.

Where the eye mixes préceptes and précepteur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. préceptes runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVC) against précepteur's 10 (CCVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
préceptes
10 ch
précepteur

Visual trap between préceptes and précepteur

A purely visual mix-up. préceptes (\pʁe.sɛpt\) and précepteur (\pʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\) 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 51473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

préceptes is recorded at frequency rank #22,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.sɛpt\. précepteur is at rank #29,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\.

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 51473, this pair ranks #154,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of préceptes vs précepteur

Shared letters: ceprté. Private to "préceptes": s. Private to "précepteur": u.

"préceptes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "précepteur" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "préceptes" and "précepteur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.sɛpt\ versus \pʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "préceptes" or "précepteur"?
"préceptes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,382 in our French list, against #29,091 for "précepteur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "préceptes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "précepteur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "préceptes" and "précepteur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "percepteur vs précepteur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #154,730 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