prescrirevsprescritesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prescrire is a verb, prescrites is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,463
“prescrire” frequency rank
#35,652
“prescrites” frequency rank
51115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prescrire prescrites
Definition Ordonner, recommander ou marquer précisément ce qu’on veut qui soit fait. Féminin pluriel de prescrit.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prescrire and prescrites apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
prescrire
10 ch
prescrites

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prescrire is \pʁɛs.kʁiʁ\ while prescrites is \pʁɛs.kʁit\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51115, 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\. prescrites is at rank #35,652, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɛs.kʁit\.

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 51115, this pair ranks #157,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prescrire vs prescrites

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

"prescrire" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCV  ·  "prescrites" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prescrireperscrire · pprescrire · precsrire · presccrire · prescirre · prescrier · prescrirre · prescrrie
  • prescritesperscrites · pprescrites · precsrites · presccrites · prescirtes · prescriets · prescritess · prescritse

Frequency comparison

prescrire#15,463
prescrites#35,652

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prescrire" and "prescrites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prescrire" is a verb and "prescrites" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prescrire" or "prescrites"?
"prescrire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,463 in our French list, against #35,652 for "prescrites". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prescrire vs prescrites

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “prescrire”; for an adjective, it's “prescrites”.
  • 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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list