Which to use
“primer” and “puiser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,191
- “primer” frequency rank
- #19,120
- “puiser” frequency rank
- 50311
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | primer | puiser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Prendre de l’eau dans un puits. |
Where the eye mixes primer and puiser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between primer and puiser
A purely visual mix-up. primer (\pʁi.me\) and puiser (\pɥi.ze\) 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 50311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
primer is recorded at frequency rank #31,191, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁi.me\. puiser is at rank #19,120, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥi.ze\.
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 50311, this pair ranks #163,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of primer vs puiser
Shared letters: eipr. Private to "primer": m. Private to "puiser": su.
"primer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "puiser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "primer" for "puiser" ever safe?
Which is more common, "primer" or "puiser"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "primer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puiser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "primer" and "puiser" 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 #163,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.