prescrirevsprescritsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prescrire is a verb, prescrits is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,463
“prescrire” frequency rank
#23,987
“prescrits” frequency rank
39450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes prescrire and prescrits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. prescrire (CCVCCCVCV) and prescrits (CCVCCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
prescrire
9 ch
prescrits

Visual trap between prescrire and prescrits

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prescrire is \pʁɛs.kʁiʁ\ while prescrits is \pʁɛs.kʁi\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39450, 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\. prescrits is at rank #23,987, 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 39450, this pair ranks #247,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prescrire vs prescrits

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

"prescrire" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCV  ·  "prescrits" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prescrire ← perscrire · pprescrire · precsrire · presccrire · prescirre · prescrier · prescrirre · prescrrie
  • prescrits ← perscrits · pprescrits · precsrits · presccrits · prescirts · prescrist · prescritss · prescritts

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prescrire" and "prescrits" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prescrire" is a verb and "prescrits" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "prescrire" vs "prescrits" - which ranks higher?
"prescrire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,463 in our French list, against #23,987 for "prescrits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prescrire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prescrits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prescrire" and "prescrits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prescrites vs prescrits". 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 #247,876 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