Which to use
“prime” and “pris” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,031
- “prime” frequency rank
- #302
- “pris” frequency rank
- 3333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prime | pris |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Premier. | Occupé, pas disponible. |
Where the eye mixes prime and pris
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between prime and pris
A purely visual mix-up. prime (\pʁim\) and pris (\pʁi\) 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 3333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prime is recorded at frequency rank #3,031, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁim\. pris is at rank #302, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁi\.
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 3333, this pair ranks #434,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prime vs pris
Shared letters: ipr. Private to "prime": em. Private to "pris": s.
"prime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "pris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prime" and "pris" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "prime" or "pris"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "prime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prime" and "pris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs prime". 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 #434,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.