Which to use
“premier” and “premières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #145
- “premier” frequency rank
- #949
- “premières” frequency rank
- 1094
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premier | premières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Adjectif numéral ordinal correspondant au nombre 1. | Féminin pluriel de premier. |
Where the eye mixes premier and premières
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. premier runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against premières's 9 (CCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses premier with premières
A purely visual mix-up. premier (\pʁə.mje\) and premières (\pʁə.mjɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1094, 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\. premières is at rank #949, tagged as anadj, 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 1094, this pair ranks #438,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of premier vs premières
Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "premier": -. Private to "premières": sè.
"premier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "premières" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- premier ← permier · ppremier · preimer · premeir · premierr · premire · premmier · prmeier
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "premier" and "premières" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "premier" vs "premières" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "premier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premier" and "premières" 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 #438,640 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.