Which to use
“perished” and “persisted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,662
- “perished” frequency rank
- #18,651
- “persisted” frequency rank
- 38313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perished | persisted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of perish | simple past and past participle of persist |
Where the eye mixes perished and persisted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. perished runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against persisted's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: perished vs persisted
A purely visual mix-up. perished (/ˈpɛɹɪʃt/) and persisted (/pɚˈsɪstɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perished is recorded at frequency rank #19,662, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪʃt/. persisted is at rank #18,651, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɚˈsɪstɪd/.
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 38313, this pair ranks #287,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perished vs persisted
Shared letters: deiprs. Private to "perished": h. Private to "persisted": t.
"perished" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "persisted" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "perished" and "persisted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "perished" or "persisted"?
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 "perished" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persisted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perished" and "persisted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perched vs perished". 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 #287,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.