prépositionvspropositionsTell them apart

Which to use

“préposition” and “propositions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,491
“préposition” frequency rank
#2,732
“propositions” frequency rank
41223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature préposition propositions
Definition Adposition antéposée. Mot-outil qui se place immédiatement devant un syntagme et qui indique la relation syntaxique ou sémantique de ce syntagme dans la phrase. Pluriel de proposition.

Where the eye mixes préposition and propositions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

11 ch
préposition
12 ch
propositions

Look-alike desk: préposition vs propositions

A purely visual mix-up. préposition (\pʁe.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\) and propositions (\pʁɔ.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

préposition is recorded at frequency rank #38,491, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\. propositions is at rank #2,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\.

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 41223, this pair ranks #234,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of préposition vs propositions

Shared letters: inoprst. Private to "préposition": é. Private to "propositions": -.

"préposition" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "propositions" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • propositionsporpositions · ppropositions · proopsitions · propoistions · proposiitons · propositinos · propositionns · propositionss

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "préposition" and "propositions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\ versus \pʁɔ.pɔ.zi.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "préposition" or "propositions" show up more?
"propositions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,732 in our French list, against #38,491 for "préposition". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "préposition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "propositions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "préposition" and "propositions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préposition vs proposition". 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 #234,686 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list