Which to use
“propre” and “propres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #513
- “propre” frequency rank
- #1,206
- “propres” frequency rank
- 1719
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | propre | propres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est particulier à une personne ou à une chose (exclusivement ou non). | Pluriel de l’adjectif propre. |
Same sound, different letters: propre vs propres
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - propre and propres
This is the hard kind. propre and propres are pronounced identically (\pʁɔpʁ\) 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) - “propre” sits inside “propres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
propre is recorded at frequency rank #513, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔpʁ\. propres is at rank #1,206, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔpʁ\.
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 1719, this pair ranks #437,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of propre vs propres
Shared letters: eopr. Private to "propre": -. Private to "propres": s.
"propre" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "propres" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "propre" for "propres" ever safe?
Frequency check: "propre" vs "propres" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "propre" / "propres". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "propre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "propres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "propre" and "propres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proféré vs propre". 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 #437,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.