promovsproofWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“promo” and “proof” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,012
“promo” frequency rank
#43,613
“proof” frequency rank
49625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promo proof
Definition Promotion. Preuve (définitive).

Where the eye mixes promo and proof

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
promo
5 ch
proof

Visual trap between promo and proof

A purely visual mix-up. promo (\pʁɔ.mo\) and proof (\ˈpɹuːf\) 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 49625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promo is recorded at frequency rank #6,012, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.mo\. proof is at rank #43,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈpɹuːf\.

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 49625, this pair ranks #169,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promo vs proof

Shared letters: opr. Private to "promo": m. Private to "proof": f.

"promo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "proof" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promopormo · ppromo · prmoo · prommo · proom · prromo · rpomo
  • proofporof · pproof · profo · prooff · prroof · rpoof

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "promo" for "proof" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ.mo\ versus \ˈpɹuːf\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "promo" vs "proof" - which ranks higher?
"promo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,012 in our French list, against #43,613 for "proof". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "promo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proof" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promo" and "proof" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proof vs proud". 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 #169,125 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