prélatvsprélatsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,827
“prélat” frequency rank
#22,991
“prélats” frequency rank
43818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prélat prélats
Definition Celui qui a une dignité considérable dans l’Église, avec juridiction spirituelle ou, jadis, temporelle. Pluriel de prélat.

Same sound, different letters: prélat vs prélats

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. prélat runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against prélats's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
prélat
7 ch
prélats

Homophone desk: prélat vs prélats

This is the hard kind. prélat and prélats are pronounced identically (\pʁe.la\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “prélat” sits inside “prélats”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prélat is recorded at frequency rank #20,827, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.la\. prélats is at rank #22,991, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.la\.

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 43818, this pair ranks #215,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prélat vs prélats

Shared letters: alprté. Private to "prélat": -. Private to "prélats": s.

"prélat" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "prélats" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prélat" and "prélats" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pʁe.la\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "prélat" or "prélats"?
"prélat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,827 in our French list, against #22,991 for "prélats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prélat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prélats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prélat" and "prélats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prélats vs prépas". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #215,157 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