Which to use
“premier” is an adjective and “première” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #145
- “premier” frequency rank
- #165
- “première” frequency rank
- 310
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premier | première |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Adjectif numéral ordinal correspondant au nombre 1. | Nom que l’on donne à la toute première représentation publique d’un spectacle, d’un film, d’une pièce de théâtre, etc, d'une opération chirurgicale, d'une ascension par une nouvelle voie, etc. |
Where the eye mixes premier and première
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. premier runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against première's 8 (CCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses premier with première
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: premier is \pʁə.mje\ while première is \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
premier is recorded at frequency rank #145, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mje\. première is at rank #165, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\.
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 310, this pair ranks #439,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of premier vs première
Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "premier": -. Private to "première": è.
"premier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "première" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- premier ← permier · ppremier · preimer · premeir · premierr · premire · premmier · prmeier
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "premier" and "première" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "premier" or "première"?
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 "premier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "première" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premier" and "première" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "premier vs preview". 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 #439,833 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.