premiervspremièresWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set premier and premières apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
premier
9 ch
premières

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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": .

"premier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "premières" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • premierpermier · ppremier · preimer · premeir · premierr · premire · premmier · prmeier

Frequency comparison

premier#145
premières#949

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "premier" and "premières" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁə.mje\ versus \pʁə.mjɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "premier" or "premières"?
"premier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #145 in our French list, against #949 for "premières". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering premier vs premières

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “premier” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list