Which to use
“program” and “programme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,299
- “program” frequency rank
- #560
- “programme” frequency rank
- 28859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | program | programme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Programme. | Écrit donnant le détail d’un événement ou d'une succession d'événements. |
Where the eye mixes program and programme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between program and programme
A purely visual mix-up. program (\ˈpɹoʊ.ɡɹæm\) and programme (\pʁɔ.ɡʁam\) 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) - “program” sits inside “programme”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
program is recorded at frequency rank #28,299, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈpɹoʊ.ɡɹæm\. programme is at rank #560, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.ɡʁam\.
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 28859, this pair ranks #320,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of program vs programme
Shared letters: agmopr. Private to "program": -. Private to "programme": e.
"program" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "programme" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "program" and "programme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "program" or "programme"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "program" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "programme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "program" and "programme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "program vs progrès". 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 #320,223 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.