prêtévsproieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,129
“prêté” frequency rank
#6,874
“proie” frequency rank
13003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prêté proie
Definition Objet d'un prêt. Animal vivant qu’un animal carnassier ravit pour le manger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prêté and proie apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
prêté
5 ch
proie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. prêté (\pʁɛ.te\) and proie (\pʁwa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prêté is recorded at frequency rank #6,129, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ.te\. proie is at rank #6,874, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁwa\.

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 13003, this pair ranks #402,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prêté vs proie

Shared letters: pr. Private to "prêté": téê. Private to "proie": eio.

"prêté" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "proie" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • proieporie · pproie · prioe · proei · prroie · rpoie

Frequency comparison

prêté#6,129
proie#6,874

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prêté" and "proie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɛ.te\ versus \pʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prêté" or "proie"?
"prêté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,129 in our French list, against #6,874 for "proie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prêté vs proie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prêté” 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