Which to use
“promis” and “promises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,296
- “promis” frequency rank
- #31,658
- “promises” frequency rank
- 33954
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | promis | promises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui fait l’objet d'une promesse. | Féminin pluriel de promis. |
Where the eye mixes promis and promises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. promis runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against promises's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses promis with promises
A purely visual mix-up. promis (\pʁɔ.mi\) and promises (\pʁɔ.miz\) 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) - “promis” sits inside “promises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
promis is recorded at frequency rank #2,296, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.mi\. promises is at rank #31,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.miz\.
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 33954, this pair ranks #287,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of promis vs promises
Shared letters: imoprs. Private to "promis": -. Private to "promises": e.
"promis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "promises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "promis" for "promises" ever safe?
Frequency check: "promis" vs "promises" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "promis" and "promises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "promis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "promises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "promis" and "promises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "précisés vs promises". 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 #287,145 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.