Which to use
“prémices” is a noun and “promises” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,995
- “prémices” frequency rank
- #31,658
- “promises” frequency rank
- 55653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prémices | promises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans l'Antiquité, premiers produits de la terre ou du bétail donnés en offrande à une divinité. | Féminin pluriel de promis. |
Where the eye mixes prémices and promises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prémices and promises follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses prémices with promises
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prémices is \pʁe.mis\ while promises is \pʁɔ.miz\. 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 55653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prémices is recorded at frequency rank #23,995, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.mis\. promises is at rank #31,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.miz\.
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 55653, this pair ranks #126,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prémices vs promises
Shared letters: eimprs. Private to "prémices": cé. Private to "promises": o.
"prémices" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "promises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- promises ← pormises · ppromises · prmoises · proimses · promiess · promisess · promisses · prommises
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prémices" for "promises" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "prémices" or "promises" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prémices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "promises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prémices" and "promises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "précisés vs promises". 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 #126,097 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.