Which to use
“per” is a preposition and “perle” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #673
- “per” frequency rank
- #14,891
- “perle” frequency rank
- 15564
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | per | perle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mittels | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs perlen |
Where the eye mixes per and perle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: per vs perle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: per is [pɛʁ] while perle is [ˈpɛʁlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “per” sits inside “perle”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
per is recorded at frequency rank #673, classified as aprep, pronounced [pɛʁ]. perle is at rank #14,891, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpɛʁlə].
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 15564, this pair ranks #1,942,862 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of per vs perle
Shared letters: epr. Private to "per": -. Private to "perle": l.
"per" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "perle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- perle ← eprle · pelre · perel · perlle · perrle · pperle · prele
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "per" for "perle" ever safe?
Frequency check: "per" vs "perle" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "per" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,942,862 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "per" and "perle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paule vs perle". 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 #1,942,862 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.