prescrire vs prescrit, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“prescrire” is a verb and “prescrit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,463
“prescrire” frequency rank: #11,834
“prescrit” frequency rank: 27297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	prescrire	prescrit
Definition	Ordonner, recommander ou marquer précisément ce qu’on veut qui soit fait.	Obligation, chose prescrite.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prescrire and prescrit apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

prescrire

8 ch

prescrit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prescrire is \pʁɛs.kʁiʁ\ while prescrit is \pʁɛs.kʁi\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prescrire is recorded at frequency rank #15,463, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɛs.kʁiʁ\. prescrit is at rank #11,834, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛs.kʁi\.

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 27297, this pair ranks #329,881 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prescrire vs prescrit

Shared letters: ceiprs. Private to "prescrire": -. Private to "prescrit": t.

"prescrire" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCV · "prescrit" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

prescrire ← perscrire · pprescrire · precsrire · presccrire · prescirre · prescrier · prescrirre · prescrrie
prescrit ← perscrit · pprescrit · precsrit · presccrit · prescirt · prescritt · prescrrit · prescrti

Frequency comparison

prescrire#15,463

prescrit#11,834

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prescrire" and "prescrit" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prescrire" is a verb and "prescrit" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "prescrire" or "prescrit"?

"prescrit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,834 in our French list, against #15,463 for "prescrire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prescrire vs prescrit

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “prescrire”; for a noun, it's “prescrit”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prescrire” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable