prêcheur vs précieux, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“prêcheur” is a noun and “précieux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,982
“prêcheur” frequency rank: #3,869
“précieux” frequency rank: 45851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	prêcheur	précieux
Definition	ou Prédicateur ; celui qui prêche.	Qui est de grand prix.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prêcheur and précieux apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

prêcheur

8 ch

précieux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prêcheur is \pʁɛ.ʃœʁ\ while précieux is \pʁe.sjø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prêcheur is recorded at frequency rank #41,982, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ.ʃœʁ\. précieux is at rank #3,869, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.sjø\.

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 45851, this pair ranks #199,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prêcheur vs précieux

Shared letters: cepru. Private to "prêcheur": hê. Private to "précieux": ixé.

"prêcheur" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC · "précieux" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVVC

Frequency comparison

prêcheur#41,982

précieux#3,869

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prêcheur" and "précieux" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prêcheur" is a noun and "précieux" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "prêcheur" or "précieux"?

"précieux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,869 in our French list, against #41,982 for "prêcheur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering prêcheur vs précieux

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “prêcheur”; for an adjective, it's “précieux”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prêcheur” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable