preferevspréférésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prefere is a adverb, préférés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prefere” is an adverb and “préférés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,982
“prefere” frequency rank
#8,134
“préférés” frequency rank
31116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prefere préférés
Definition Plutôt, de préférence. Masculin pluriel de préféré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prefere and préférés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
prefere
8 ch
préférés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prefere is \pre.ˈfe.re\ while préférés is \pʁe.fe.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prefere is recorded at frequency rank #22,982, classified as anadv, pronounced \pre.ˈfe.re\. préférés is at rank #8,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.fe.ʁe\.

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 31116, this pair ranks #305,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prefere vs préférés

Shared letters: fpr. Private to "prefere": e. Private to "préférés": .

"prefere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "préférés" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prefereperfere · pprefere · preefre · prefeer · preferre · preffere · prefree · prfeere

Frequency comparison

prefere#22,982
préférés#8,134

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prefere" and "préférés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prefere" is an adverb and "préférés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prefere" or "préférés"?
"préférés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,134 in our French list, against #22,982 for "prefere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prefere vs préférés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list