Which to use
“première” and “prière” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #165
- “première” frequency rank
- #3,789
- “prière” frequency rank
- 3954
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | première | prière |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Paroles par lesquelles on s’adresse à Dieu, ou à des intercesseurs. |
Where the eye mixes première and prière
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. première runs 8 letters (CCVCVVCV) against prière's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: première vs prière
A purely visual mix-up. première (\pʁə.mjɛʁ\) and prière (\pʁi.jɛʁ\) 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 3954, 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\. prière is at rank #3,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.jɛʁ\.
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 3954, this pair ranks #432,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of première vs prière
Shared letters: eiprè. Private to "première": m. Private to "prière": -.
"première" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV · "prière" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "première" for "prière" ever safe?
Frequency check: "première" vs "prière" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "première" and "prière" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "première" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prière" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "première" and "prière" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs prière". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #432,811 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.