Which to use
“proteger” and “protégez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,990
- “proteger” frequency rank
- #24,728
- “protégez” frequency rank
- 63718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | proteger | protégez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Protéger. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de protéger. |
Where the eye mixes proteger and protégez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. proteger and protégez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: proteger vs protégez
A purely visual mix-up. proteger (\pro.te.ˈʒɛr\) and protégez (\pʁɔ.te.ʒe\) 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 63718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
proteger is recorded at frequency rank #38,990, classified as averb, pronounced \pro.te.ˈʒɛr\. protégez is at rank #24,728, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.te.ʒe\.
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 63718, this pair ranks #80,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of proteger vs protégez
Shared letters: egoprt. Private to "proteger": -. Private to "protégez": zé.
"proteger" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "protégez" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- proteger ← porteger · pproteger · proetger · proteegr · protegerr · protegger · protegre · protgeer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "proteger" for "protégez" ever safe?
Frequency check: "proteger" vs "protégez" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "proteger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "protégez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "proteger" and "protégez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proteger vs protégera". 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 #80,554 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.