Which to use
“perf” is an adjective and “pur” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,815
- “perf” frequency rank
- #34,243
- “pur” frequency rank
- 77058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perf | pur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abbreviation of perforated; when followed by a number, eg, perf 14, this indicates the number of perforations per two centimetres. | Dated form of purr (“low murmuring sound as of a cat”). |
Letter map: perf vs pur
Shared letters muted; letters that set perf and pur apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for perf / pur
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: perf is anadjective and puranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perf is recorded at frequency rank #42,815, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɜː(ɹ)f/. pur is at rank #34,243, tagged as anoun.
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 77058, this pair ranks #28,328 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of perf vs pur
Shared letters: pr. Private to "perf": ef. Private to "pur": u.
"perf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perf ← eprf · pefr · perff · perrf · pperf · pref
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perf" for "pur" ever safe?
Frequency check: "perf" vs "pur" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "perf" and "pur". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "perf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,328 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perf" and "pur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pecs vs perf". 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 #28,328 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.