Français homophones

pair/paire/paires/pairs/perd/perds/pers/père/pères

"pair" is a noun; "paires" is an adjective - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #1 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "pair" arrives as a noun, while "paires" is an adjective. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "pair" then splits - "pair" (4 letters) vs "paire" (5).
Shared stem "pair" then splits - "pair" (4 letters) vs "paires" (6).
Shared stem "pair" then splits - "pair" (4 letters) vs "pairs" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "pair" is 4 letters, "perd" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pair" is 4 letters, "perds" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pair" is 4 letters, "pers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pair" is 4 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pair" is 4 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "paire" then splits - "paire" (5 letters) vs "paires" (6).
Single-letter fork: "paire" keeps e, "pairs" writes s at letter 5.
No shared spelling stem: "paire" is 5 letters, "perd" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paire" is 5 letters, "perds" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paire" is 5 letters, "pers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paire" is 5 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paire" is 5 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "pair" then splits - "paires" (6 letters) vs "pairs" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "paires" is 6 letters, "perd" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paires" is 6 letters, "perds" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paires" is 6 letters, "pers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paires" is 6 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paires" is 6 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pairs" is 5 letters, "perd" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pairs" is 5 letters, "perds" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pairs" is 5 letters, "pers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pairs" is 5 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pairs" is 5 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "perd" then splits - "perd" (4 letters) vs "perds" (5).
Single-letter fork: "perd" keeps d, "pers" writes s at letter 4.
No shared spelling stem: "perd" is 4 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "perd" is 4 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "per" then splits - "perds" (5 letters) vs "pers" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "perds" is 5 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "perds" is 5 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pers" is 4 letters, "père" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "pers" is 4 letters, "pères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "père" then splits - "père" (4 letters) vs "pères" (5).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across pair, paire, paires, pairs, perd, perds, pers, père, pères: pr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

pair
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory aipr · private ai
paire
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVCV
Inventory aeipr · private aei
paires
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVCVC
Inventory aeiprs · private aeis
pairs
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory aiprs · private ais
perd
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory depr · private de
perds
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory deprs · private des
pers
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory eprs · private es
père
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCV
Inventory eprè · private eè
pères
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory eprsè · private esè

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "pair" when you mean: Personne de même condition et de même rang dans l’état.
Write "paire" when you mean: Deux choses de même espèce, qui vont nécessairement ou ordinairement ensemble.
Write "paires" when you mean: Féminin pluriel de pair.
Write "pairs" when you mean: Masculin pluriel de pair.
Write "perd" when you mean: Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre.
Write "perds" when you mean: Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre.
Write "pers" when you mean: Qui est entre le bleu et le vert (surtout en parlant des yeux).
Write "père" when you mean: Mâle ayant fécondé un ovule qui a donné naissance à un enfant ; géniteur.
Write "pères" when you mean: Pluriel de père.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

pair ← apir · pairr · piar · ppair
paire ← apire · paier · pairre · parie · piare · ppaire
paires ← apires · paiers · pairess · pairres · pairse · paries
pairs ← apirs · pairrs · pairss · paisr · piars · ppairs
perd ← eprd · pedr · perdd · perrd · pperd · pred
perds ← eprds · pedrs · perdds · perdss · perrds · persd
pers ← eprs · perrs · pesr · ppers

Each spelling

pair

noun · /\pɛʁ\/ · #7,212 frequency

Personne de même condition et de même rang dans l’état.

paire

noun · /\pɛʁ\/ · #3,630 frequency

Deux choses de même espèce, qui vont nécessairement ou ordinairement ensemble.

paires

adjective · /\pɛʁ\/ · #8,282 frequency

Féminin pluriel de pair.

pairs

adjective · /\pɛʁ\/ · #9,209 frequency

Masculin pluriel de pair.

perd

verb · /\pɛʁ\/ · #1,928 frequency

Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre.

perds

verb · /\pɛʁ\/ · #5,378 frequency

Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre.

pers

adjective · /\pɛʁ\/ · #17,512 frequency

Qui est entre le bleu et le vert (surtout en parlant des yeux).

père

/\pɛʁ\/

Mâle ayant fécondé un ovule qui a donné naissance à un enfant ; géniteur.

pères