Which to use
“préposé” is a noun and “proposé” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,094
- “préposé” frequency rank
- #2,143
- “proposé” frequency rank
- 31237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | préposé | proposé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Employé attaché à une tâche. | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe proposer. |
Where the eye mixes préposé and proposé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. préposé and proposé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: préposé vs proposé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: préposé is \pʁe.po.ze\ while proposé is \pʁo.po.ze\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - é in “préposé” becomes o in “proposé”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
préposé is recorded at frequency rank #29,094, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.po.ze\. proposé is at rank #2,143, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁo.po.ze\.
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 31237, this pair ranks #305,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of préposé vs proposé
Shared letters: oprsé. Private to "préposé": -. Private to "proposé": -.
"préposé" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "proposé" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "préposé" and "proposé" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "préposé" or "proposé"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "préposé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "proposé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #305,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "préposé" and "proposé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prépas vs préposé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #305,065 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.