Which to use
“prolonge” is a noun and “prolonger” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,108
- “prolonge” frequency rank
- #8,016
- “prolonger” frequency rank
- 19124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prolonge | prolonger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cordage qui servait, dans le tir, à réunir la pièce d’artillerie à son avant-train. | Faire durer plus longtemps. |
Where the eye mixes prolonge and prolonger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between prolonge and prolonger
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prolonge is \pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ\ while prolonger is \pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “prolonge” sits inside “prolonger”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prolonge is recorded at frequency rank #11,108, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.lɔ̃ʒ\. prolonger is at rank #8,016, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe\.
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 19124, this pair ranks #374,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prolonge vs prolonger
Shared letters: eglnopr. Private to "prolonge": -. Private to "prolonger": -.
"prolonge" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV · "prolonger" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prolonge" for "prolonger" ever safe?
Which is more common, "prolonge" or "prolonger"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prolonge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prolonger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prolonge" and "prolonger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prolonge vs prolongera". 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 #374,872 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.