promptvspromusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,822
“prompt” frequency rank
#29,924
“promus” frequency rank
50746
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prompt promus
Definition Qui est rapide ; qui ne tarde pas ; qui va vite. Masculin pluriel de promu.

Where the eye mixes prompt and promus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. prompt (CCVCCC) and promus (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
prompt
6 ch
promus

Look-alike desk: prompt vs promus

A purely visual mix-up. prompt (\pʁɔ̃\) and promus (\pʁɔ.my\) 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 50746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prompt is recorded at frequency rank #20,822, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ̃\. promus is at rank #29,924, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.my\.

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 50746, this pair ranks #160,310 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prompt vs promus

Shared letters: mopr. Private to "prompt": t. Private to "promus": su.

"prompt" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "promus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prompt ← pormpt · pprompt · prmopt · prommpt · promppt · promptt · promtp · propmt
  • promus ← pormus · ppromus · prmous · prommus · promsu · promuss · proums · prromus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prompt" for "promus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ̃\ versus \pʁɔ.my\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "prompt" vs "promus" - which ranks higher?
"prompt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,822 in our French list, against #29,924 for "promus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "prompt" and "promus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prompt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "promus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,310 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prompt" and "promus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "produis vs promus". 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 #160,310 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