Which to use
“prog” is a noun and “prou” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,751
- “prog” frequency rank
- #27,198
- “prou” frequency rank
- 57949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prog | prou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Programmation. | Assez, beaucoup. |
Where the eye mixes prog and prou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses prog with prou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prog is \pʁɔɡ\ while prou is \pʁu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “prog” becomes u in “prou”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prog is recorded at frequency rank #30,751, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔɡ\. prou is at rank #27,198, tagged as anadv, pronounced \pʁu\.
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 57949, this pair ranks #111,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of prog vs prou
Shared letters: opr. Private to "prog": g. Private to "prou": u.
"prog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "prou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "prog" and "prou" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "prog" vs "prou" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "prog" and "prou" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "prog" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prog" and "prou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs prog". 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 #111,955 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.