Which to use
“près” is an adverb and “prié” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #294
- “près” frequency rank
- #13,873
- “prié” frequency rank
- 14167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | près | prié |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | À petite distance, à proximité. | Participe passé masculin singulier de prier. |
Where the eye mixes près and prié
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses près with prié
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: près is \pʁɛ\ while prié is \pʁi.je\. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
près is recorded at frequency rank #294, classified as anadv, pronounced \pʁɛ\. prié is at rank #13,873, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.je\.
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 14167, this pair ranks #397,879 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of près vs prié
Shared letters: pr. Private to "près": sè. Private to "prié": ié.
"près" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "prié" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "près" for "prié" ever safe?
Which is more common, "près" or "prié"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "près" and "prié" 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 "prié" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,879 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "près" and "prié" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs prié". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #397,879 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.