Which to use
“prisme” and “prison” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,970
- “prisme” frequency rank
- #951
- “prison” frequency rank
- 16921
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prisme | prison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Polyèdre ayant pour bases deux polygones égaux et parallèles, dont les côtés homologues sont unis par des parallélogrammes. | Endroit clos où sont enfermées les personnes condamnées à une peine de privation de liberté ou les prévenus en attente de jugement. |
Where the eye mixes prisme and prison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: prisme vs prison
A purely visual mix-up. prisme (\pʁism\) and prison (\pʁi.zɔ̃\) 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 16921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prisme is recorded at frequency rank #15,970, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁism\. prison is at rank #951, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.zɔ̃\.
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 16921, this pair ranks #385,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prisme vs prison
Shared letters: iprs. Private to "prisme": em. Private to "prison": no.
"prisme" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "prison" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prisme" for "prison" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "prisme" or "prison" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prisme" and "prison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs prisme". 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 #385,629 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.