progressionvsprogressionsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“progression” and “progressions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,521
“progression” frequency rank
#44,644
“progressions” frequency rank
49165
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature progression progressions
Definition Marche en avant. Pluriel de progression.

Where the eye mixes progression and progressions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.

11 ch
progression
12 ch
progressions

Visual trap between progression and progressions

A purely visual mix-up. progression (\pʁɔ.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\) and progressions (\pʁɔ.ɡʁe.sjɔ̃\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “progression” sits inside “progressions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

progression is recorded at frequency rank #4,521, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\. progressions is at rank #44,644, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.ɡʁe.sjɔ̃\.

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 49165, this pair ranks #172,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of progression vs progressions

Shared letters: eginoprs. Private to "progression": -. Private to "progressions": -.

"progression" · 11 letters · shape CCVCCVCCVVC  ·  "progressions" · 12 letters · shape CCVCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • progressionporgression · pprogression · prgoression · progerssion · proggression · progresion · progresison · progressino
  • progressionsporgressions · pprogressions · prgoressions · progerssions · proggressions · progresions · progresisons · progressinos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "progression" for "progressions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\ versus \pʁɔ.ɡʁe.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "progression" or "progressions"?
"progression" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,521 in our French list, against #44,644 for "progressions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "progression" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "progressions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "progression" and "progressions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "progressions vs progressives". 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 #172,919 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list