Which to use
“près” is an adverb and “PRG” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #294
- “près” frequency rank
- #34,262
- “PRG” frequency rank
- 34556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | près | PRG |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | À petite distance, à proximité. | Abréviation de pouvoir de réchauffement global. |
Where the eye mixes près and PRG
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses près with PRG
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: près is \pʁɛ\ while PRG is \pe.ɛʁ.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
près is recorded at frequency rank #294, classified as anadv, pronounced \pʁɛ\. PRG is at rank #34,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.ɛʁ.ʒe\.
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 34556, this pair ranks #282,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of près vs PRG
Shared letters: pr. Private to "près": sè. Private to "PRG": g.
"près" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "PRG" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "près" for "PRG" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "près" or "PRG" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "près" and "PRG" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "près" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "PRG" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "près" and "PRG" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs PRG". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #282,965 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.