Which to use
“prescrire” and “proscrire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,463
- “prescrire” frequency rank
- #34,691
- “proscrire” frequency rank
- 50154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prescrire | proscrire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ordonner, recommander ou marquer précisément ce qu’on veut qui soit fait. | Condamner à mort sans forme judiciaire et en publiant simplement par une affiche le nom des condamnés. |
Where the eye mixes prescrire and proscrire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. prescrire and proscrire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: prescrire vs proscrire
A purely visual mix-up. prescrire (\pʁɛs.kʁiʁ\) and proscrire (\pʁɔs.kʁiʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “prescrire” becomes o in “proscrire”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50154, 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\. proscrire is at rank #34,691, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔs.kʁiʁ\.
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 50154, this pair ranks #164,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prescrire vs proscrire
Shared letters: ceiprs. Private to "prescrire": -. Private to "proscrire": o.
"prescrire" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCV · "proscrire" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prescrire" and "proscrire" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "prescrire" or "proscrire"?
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 "proscrire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prescrire" and "proscrire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proscrire vs proscrit". 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 #164,860 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.