pedovsperConfusable pair

Quick tell: pedo is a noun, per is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pedo” is a noun and “per” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,454
“pedo” frequency rank
#339
“per” frequency rank
35793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pedo per
Definition Alternative spelling of paedo (“pedophile”). For each.

Where the eye mixes pedo and per

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pedo
3 ch
per

Visual trap between pedo and per

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pedo is /ˈpɛd.əʊ/ while per is /pɜː/. 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pedo is recorded at frequency rank #35,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛd.əʊ/. per is at rank #339, tagged as aprep, pronounced /pɜː/.

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 35793, this pair ranks #308,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pedo vs per

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pedo": do. Private to "per": r.

"pedo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "per" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pedoepdo · pdeo · peddo · peod · ppedo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pedo" for "per" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pedo" is a noun and "per" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pedo" or "per"?
"per" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #339 in our English list, against #35,454 for "pedo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pedo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "per" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pedo" and "per" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pecs vs pedo". 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 #308,883 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list