Which to use
“public” is an adjective and “publier” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #382
- “public” frequency rank
- #3,283
- “publier” frequency rank
- 3665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | public | publier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient au peuple dans son entier. | Rendre public et notoire. |
Where the eye mixes public and publier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. public runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against publier's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: public vs publier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: public is \py.blik\ while publier is \py.bli.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
public is recorded at frequency rank #382, classified as anadj, pronounced \py.blik\. publier is at rank #3,283, tagged as averb, pronounced \py.bli.je\.
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 3665, this pair ranks #433,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of public vs publier
Shared letters: bilpu. Private to "public": c. Private to "publier": er.
"public" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "publier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "public" for "publier" ever safe?
Frequency check: "public" vs "publier" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "public" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "publier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "public" and "publier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publier vs publiez". 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 #433,467 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.