Which to use
“price” and “primer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,050
- “price” frequency rank
- #31,191
- “primer” frequency rank
- 41241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | price | primer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de pricer. | Devancer, dominer, l’emporter sur quelqu’un ou sur quelque chose, y imposer sa domination. Note d’usage : À l’origine sans préposition, en ce sens il est d’ordinaire suivi désormais de sur. |
Where the eye mixes price and primer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. price runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against primer's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses price with primer
A purely visual mix-up. price (\pʁajs\) and primer (\pʁi.me\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
price is recorded at frequency rank #10,050, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁajs\. primer is at rank #31,191, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.me\.
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 41241, this pair ranks #234,545 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of price vs primer
Shared letters: eipr. Private to "price": c. Private to "primer": m.
"price" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "primer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "price" and "primer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "price" or "primer" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "price" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "primer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,545 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "price" and "primer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs primer". 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 #234,545 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.