partevsparuConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,716
“parte” frequency rank
#3,280
“paru” frequency rank
12996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parte paru
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de partir. Participe passé masculin singulier de paraître (ou paraitre).

Where the eye mixes parte and paru

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
parte
4 ch
paru

Why the eye confuses parte with paru

A purely visual mix-up. parte (\paʁt\) and paru (\pa.ʁy\) 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 12996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parte is recorded at frequency rank #9,716, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁt\. paru is at rank #3,280, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁy\.

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 12996, this pair ranks #402,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parte vs paru

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parte": et. Private to "paru": u.

"parte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "paru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parteaprte · paret · parrte · partte · patre · pparte · prate
  • paruapru · parru · paur · pparu · prau

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parte" for "paru" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\paʁt\ versus \pa.ʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "parte" vs "paru" - which ranks higher?
"paru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,280 in our French list, against #9,716 for "parte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "parte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parte" and "paru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parl vs parte". 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 #402,857 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