pariasvspérilsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“parias” and “périls” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,704
“parias” frequency rank
#24,002
“périls” frequency rank
72706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parias périls
Definition Pluriel de paria. Pluriel de péril.

Where the eye mixes parias and périls

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. parias (CVCVVC) and périls (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
parias
6 ch
périls

Visual trap between parias and périls

A purely visual mix-up. parias (\pa.ʁja\) and périls (\pe.ʁil\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parias is recorded at frequency rank #48,704, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁja\. périls is at rank #24,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.ʁil\.

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 72706, this pair ranks #43,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of parias vs périls

Shared letters: iprs. Private to "parias": a. Private to "périls": lé.

"parias" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "périls" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parias ← aprias · pairas · parais · pariass · parisa · parrias · pparias · praias

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parias" for "périls" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ʁja\ versus \pe.ʁil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "parias" vs "périls" - which ranks higher?
"périls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,002 in our French list, against #48,704 for "parias". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "parias" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "périls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parias" and "périls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parias vs parions". 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 #43,052 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list