Which to use
“prenons” is a verb and “prisons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,730
- “prenons” frequency rank
- #7,355
- “prisons” frequency rank
- 14085
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prenons | prisons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe prendre. | Pluriel de prison. |
Where the eye mixes prenons and prisons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses prenons with prisons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prenons is \pʁə.nɔ̃\ while prisons is \pʁi.zɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prenons is recorded at frequency rank #6,730, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁə.nɔ̃\. prisons is at rank #7,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.zɔ̃\.
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 14085, this pair ranks #398,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prenons vs prisons
Shared letters: noprs. Private to "prenons": e. Private to "prisons": i.
"prenons" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "prisons" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prenons" and "prisons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "prenons" or "prisons" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "prenons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prisons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prenons" and "prisons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parions vs prisons". 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 #398,258 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.