Which to use
“première” is a noun and “premières” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #165
- “première” frequency rank
- #949
- “premières” frequency rank
- 1114
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | première | premières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Féminin pluriel de premier. |
Same sound, different letters: première vs premières
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. première runs 8 letters (CCVCVVCV) against premières's 9 (CCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - première and premières
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: première and premières carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “première” sits inside “premières”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
première is recorded at frequency rank #165, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. 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 1114, this pair ranks #438,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of première vs premières
Shared letters: eimprè. Private to "première": -. Private to "premières": s.
"première" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV · "premières" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "première" for "premières" ever safe?
Frequency check: "première" vs "premières" - which ranks higher?
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 "première" 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 #438,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "première" and "premières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "première vs prémisse". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #438,600 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.