Which to use
“parsons” is a verb and “persans” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,102
- “parsons” frequency rank
- #48,712
- “persans” frequency rank
- 80814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parsons | persans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe parser. | Masculin pluriel de persan. |
Where the eye mixes parsons and persans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. parsons and persans follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: parsons vs persans
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parsons is \paʁ.sɔ̃\ while persans is \pɛʁ.sɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parsons is recorded at frequency rank #32,102, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.sɔ̃\. persans is at rank #48,712, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.sɑ̃\.
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 80814, this pair ranks #20,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of parsons vs persans
Shared letters: anprs. Private to "parsons": o. Private to "persans": e.
"parsons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "persans" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parsons" and "persans" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "parsons" or "persans"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "parsons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parsons" and "persans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persane vs persans". 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 #20,081 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.