Which to use
“proie” and “prône” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,874
- “proie” frequency rank
- #11,838
- “prône” frequency rank
- 18712
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | proie | prône |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Animal vivant qu’un animal carnassier ravit pour le manger. | Instruction chrétienne que le curé ou un vicaire fait tous les dimanches en chaire, à la messe paroissiale. |
Where the eye mixes proie and prône
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses proie with prône
A purely visual mix-up. proie (\pʁwa\) and prône (\pʁon\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
proie is recorded at frequency rank #6,874, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁwa\. prône is at rank #11,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁon\.
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 18712, this pair ranks #376,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of proie vs prône
Shared letters: epr. Private to "proie": io. Private to "prône": nô.
"proie" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "prône" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- proie ← porie · pproie · prioe · proei · prroie · rpoie
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "proie" for "prône" ever safe?
Which is more common, "proie" or "prône"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "proie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prône" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "proie" and "prône" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs prône". 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 #376,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.