Which to use
“privées” is an adjective and “priver” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,788
- “privées” frequency rank
- #9,060
- “priver” frequency rank
- 12848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | privées | priver |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de privé. | Ôter à quelqu’un ce qu’il a, ce qu’il possède, l’empêcher de jouir de quelque avantage qu’il avait ou pouvait avoir, le dépouiller de quelque chose qui lui appartient. |
Same sound, different letters: privées vs priver
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. privées runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against priver's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - privées / priver
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: privées and priver carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pʁi.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
privées is recorded at frequency rank #3,788, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁi.ve\. priver is at rank #9,060, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.ve\.
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 12848, this pair ranks #403,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of privées vs priver
Shared letters: eiprv. Private to "privées": sé. Private to "priver": -.
"privées" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "priver" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- priver ← pirver · ppriver · prievr · priverr · privre · privver · prriver · prvier
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "privées" for "priver" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "privées" or "priver" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "privées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "priver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "privées" and "priver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs priver". 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 #403,505 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.