promenévspromesseTell them apart

Quick tell: promené is a verb, promesse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“promené” is a verb and “promesse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,951
“promené” frequency rank
#3,636
“promesse” frequency rank
43587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promené promesse
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de promener. Action de promettre ; ou résultat de cette action.

Where the eye mixes promené and promesse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. promené runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against promesse's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
promené
8 ch
promesse

Why the eye confuses promené with promesse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: promené is \pʁɔ.mə.ne\ while promesse is \pʁɔ.mɛs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promené is recorded at frequency rank #39,951, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.mə.ne\. promesse is at rank #3,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.mɛs\.

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 43587, this pair ranks #216,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promené vs promesse

Shared letters: emopr. Private to "promené": né. Private to "promesse": s.

"promené" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "promesse" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promesse ← pormesse · ppromesse · prmoesse · proemsse · promese · promeses · prommesse · promsese

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "promené" for "promesse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "promené" is a verb and "promesse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "promené" or "promesse" show up more?
"promesse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,636 in our French list, against #39,951 for "promené". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "promené" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "promesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promené" and "promesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proféré vs promené". 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 #216,937 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