Which to use
“profonde” and “profondeur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,792
- “profonde” frequency rank
- #2,949
- “profondeur” frequency rank
- 6741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | profonde | profondeur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poche d’un vêtement. | Étendue d’une chose considérée depuis la surface ou l’entrée jusqu’au fond. |
Where the eye mixes profonde and profondeur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. profonde runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against profondeur's 10 (CCVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses profonde with profondeur
A purely visual mix-up. profonde (\pʁɔ.fɔ̃d\) and profondeur (\pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “profonde” sits inside “profondeur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
profonde is recorded at frequency rank #3,792, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fɔ̃d\. profondeur is at rank #2,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ\.
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 6741, this pair ranks #425,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of profonde vs profondeur
Shared letters: defnopr. Private to "profonde": -. Private to "profondeur": u.
"profonde" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV · "profondeur" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- profonde ← porfonde · pprofonde · prfoonde · proffonde · profnode · profodne · profondde · profoned
- profondeur ← porfondeur · pprofondeur · prfoondeur · proffondeur · profnodeur · profodneur · profonddeur · profonderu
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "profonde" for "profondeur" ever safe?
Which is more common, "profonde" or "profondeur"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "profonde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "profondeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "profonde" and "profondeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "profane vs profonde". 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 #425,377 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.