prièrevsprismeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,789
“prière” frequency rank
#15,970
“prisme” frequency rank
19759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prière prisme
Definition Paroles par lesquelles on s’adresse à Dieu, ou à des intercesseurs. Polyèdre ayant pour bases deux polygones égaux et parallèles, dont les côtés homologues sont unis par des parallélogrammes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prière and prisme apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
prière
6 ch
prisme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. prière (\pʁi.jɛʁ\) and prisme (\pʁism\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prière is recorded at frequency rank #3,789, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.jɛʁ\. prisme is at rank #15,970, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁism\.

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 19759, this pair ranks #371,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prière vs prisme

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "prière": è. Private to "prisme": ms.

"prière" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "prisme" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prismepirsme · pprisme · primse · prisem · prismme · prissme · prrisme · prsime

Frequency comparison

prière#3,789
prisme#15,970

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prière" and "prisme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁi.jɛʁ\ versus \pʁism\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prière" or "prisme"?
"prière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,789 in our French list, against #15,970 for "prisme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prière vs prisme

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 “prière” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list