prospérervsprospèresConfusable pair

Quick tell: prospérer is a verb, prospères is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prospérer” is a verb and “prospères” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,735
“prospérer” frequency rank
#35,219
“prospères” frequency rank
56954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prospérer prospères
Definition Être heureux, avoir la fortune favorable. Pluriel de prospère.

Where the eye mixes prospérer and prospères

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
prospérer
9 ch
prospères

Why the eye confuses prospérer with prospères

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prospérer is \pʁɔs.pe.ʁe\ while prospères is \pʁɔs.pɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prospérer is recorded at frequency rank #21,735, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔs.pe.ʁe\. prospères is at rank #35,219, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔs.pɛʁ\.

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 56954, this pair ranks #117,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prospérer vs prospères

Shared letters: eoprs. Private to "prospérer": é. Private to "prospères": è.

"prospérer" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC  ·  "prospères" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prospérer" for "prospères" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prospérer" is a verb and "prospères" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "prospérer" vs "prospères" - which ranks higher?
"prospérer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,735 in our French list, against #35,219 for "prospères". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prospérer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prospères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prospérer" and "prospères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prospèrent vs prospères". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #117,927 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