préservervspréservésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“préserver” and “préservés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,607
“préserver” frequency rank
#30,755
“préservés” frequency rank
35362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature préserver préservés
Definition Garantir quelqu’un ou quelque chose d’un mal qui pourrait lui arriver. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe préserver.

Same sound, different letters: préserver vs préservés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. préserver and préservés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
préserver
9 ch
préservés

Ear matches; page differs - préserver and préservés

This is the hard kind. préserver and préservés are pronounced identically (\pʁe.zɛʁ.ve\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

préserver is recorded at frequency rank #4,607, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.zɛʁ.ve\. préservés is at rank #30,755, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.zɛʁ.ve\.

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 35362, this pair ranks #277,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of préserver vs préservés

Shared letters: eprsvé. Private to "préserver": -. Private to "préservés": -.

"préserver" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "préservés" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "préserver" and "préservés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pʁe.zɛʁ.ve\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "préserver" vs "préservés" - which ranks higher?
"préserver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,607 in our French list, against #30,755 for "préservés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "préserver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "préservés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "préserver" and "préservés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préservées vs préservés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #277,258 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