Which to use
“promise” and “promises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,275
- “promise” frequency rank
- #31,658
- “promises” frequency rank
- 42933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | promise | promises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de promis. | Féminin pluriel de promis. |
Same sound, different letters: promise vs promises
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - promise / promises
This is the hard kind. promise and promises are pronounced identically (\pʁɔ.miz\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “promise” sits inside “promises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
promise is recorded at frequency rank #11,275, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.miz\. 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 42933, this pair ranks #221,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of promise vs promises
Shared letters: eimoprs. Private to "promise": -. Private to "promises": -.
"promise" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "promises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "promise" for "promises" ever safe?
Frequency check: "promise" vs "promises" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "promise" 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 #221,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "promise" 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 #221,825 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.