privéesvspriverWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: privées is a adjective, priver is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set privées and priver apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
privées
6 ch
priver

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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": . Private to "priver": -.

"privées" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "priver" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • priverpirver · ppriver · prievr · priverr · privre · privver · prriver · prvier

Frequency comparison

privées#3,788
priver#9,060

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "privées" and "priver" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "privées" is an adjective and "priver" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "privées" or "priver"?
"privées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,788 in our French list, against #9,060 for "priver". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering privées vs priver

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “privées”; for a verb, it's “priver”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “privées” 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