passésvspersesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,556
“passés” frequency rank
#20,814
“perses” frequency rank
24370
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passés perses
Definition Masculin pluriel de passé. Pluriel de perse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set passés and perses apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
passés
6 ch
perses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. passés (\pa.se\) and perses (\pɛʁs\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passés is recorded at frequency rank #3,556, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.se\. perses is at rank #20,814, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁs\.

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 24370, this pair ranks #346,995 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passés vs perses

Shared letters: ps. Private to "passés": . Private to "perses": er.

"passés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseseprses · peress · perrses · persess · persses · pesres · pperses · preses

Frequency comparison

passés#3,556
perses#20,814

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passés" and "perses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.se\ versus \pɛʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "passés" or "perses"?
"passés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,556 in our French list, against #20,814 for "perses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering passés vs perses

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “passés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list