princesvsprincipesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,425
“princes” frequency rank
#2,635
“principes” frequency rank
9060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature princes principes
Definition Pluriel de prince. Pluriel de principe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set princes and principes apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
princes
9 ch
principes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. princes (\pʁɛ̃s\) and principes (\pʁɛ̃.sip\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

princes is recorded at frequency rank #6,425, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ̃s\. principes is at rank #2,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ̃.sip\.

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 9060, this pair ranks #417,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of princes vs principes

Shared letters: ceinprs. Private to "princes": -. Private to "principes": -.

"princes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "principes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • princespirnces · pprinces · pricnes · princces · princse · prinecs · prinnces · prnices
  • principespirncipes · pprincipes · pricnipes · princcipes · princieps · principess · princippes · principse

Frequency comparison

princes#6,425
principes#2,635

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "princes" and "principes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɛ̃s\ versus \pʁɛ̃.sip\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "princes" or "principes"?
"principes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,635 in our French list, against #6,425 for "princes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering princes vs principes

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 “princes” 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