précisionsvsprovisionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,224
“précisions” frequency rank
#12,455
“provisions” frequency rank
21679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature précisions provisions
Definition Pluriel de précision. Pluriel de provision.

Where the eye mixes précisions and provisions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. précisions and provisions follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
précisions
10 ch
provisions

Look-alike desk: précisions vs provisions

A purely visual mix-up. précisions (\pʁe.si.zjɔ̃\) and provisions (\pʁɔ.vi.zjɔ̃\) 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 21679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

précisions is recorded at frequency rank #9,224, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.si.zjɔ̃\. provisions is at rank #12,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.vi.zjɔ̃\.

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 21679, this pair ranks #361,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of précisions vs provisions

Shared letters: inoprs. Private to "précisions": cé. Private to "provisions": v.

"précisions" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC  ·  "provisions" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provisions ← porvisions · pprovisions · proivsions · proviisons · provisinos · provisionns · provisionss · provisiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "précisions" for "provisions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.si.zjɔ̃\ versus \pʁɔ.vi.zjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "précisions" vs "provisions" - which ranks higher?
"précisions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,224 in our French list, against #12,455 for "provisions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "précisions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provisions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #361,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "précisions" and "provisions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "precision vs précisions". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #361,978 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