Which to use
“précipice” is a noun and “précipité” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,657
- “précipice” frequency rank
- #15,976
- “précipité” frequency rank
- 51633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | précipice | précipité |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abîme, gouffre, cavité très profonde et très escarpée. | Hâté, accéléré, prompt, rapide voire impétueux. |
Where the eye mixes précipice and précipité
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. précipice and précipité follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses précipice with précipité
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: précipice is \pʁe.si.pis\ while précipité is \pʁe.si.pi.te\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
précipice is recorded at frequency rank #35,657, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.si.pis\. précipité is at rank #15,976, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.si.pi.te\.
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 51633, this pair ranks #153,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of précipice vs précipité
Shared letters: cipré. Private to "précipice": e. Private to "précipité": t.
"précipice" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV · "précipité" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "précipice" for "précipité" ever safe?
Which is more common, "précipice" or "précipité"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "précipice" and "précipité" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "précipice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "précipité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "précipice" and "précipité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "précipice vs précipita". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #153,565 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.