I would prefer to swim & I would rather see

[JustAlilBit]

Hello, do these sentences have the same meaning?
I would prefer to swim rather than see a movie.
I would rather see a movie than swim.

 

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

No. In the first sentence, you expressed a preference for swimming. In the second, you favored seeing a movie.
As far as sentence structure goes, the second sentence sounds better to me.