préfetsvsprofitsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,772
“préfets” frequency rank
#6,873
“profits” frequency rank
21645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature préfets profits
Definition Pluriel de préfet. Pluriel de profit.

Where the eye mixes préfets and profits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
préfets
7 ch
profits

Look-alike desk: préfets vs profits

A purely visual mix-up. préfets (\pʁe.fɛ\) and profits (\pʁɔ.fi\) 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 21645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

préfets is recorded at frequency rank #14,772, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.fɛ\. profits is at rank #6,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fi\.

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 21645, this pair ranks #362,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of préfets vs profits

Shared letters: fprst. Private to "préfets": . Private to "profits": io.

"préfets" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "profits" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • profitsporfits · pprofits · prfoits · proffits · profist · profitss · profitts · proftis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "préfets" and "profits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.fɛ\ versus \pʁɔ.fi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "préfets" or "profits"?
"profits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,873 in our French list, against #14,772 for "préfets". 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 "préfets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "profits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "préfets" and "profits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préfets vs prêtées". 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 #362,136 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