Which to use
“pègre” and “perce” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,988
- “pègre” frequency rank
- #18,016
- “perce” frequency rank
- 60004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pègre | perce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. | Outil pour percer. |
Where the eye mixes pègre and perce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pègre and perce follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pègre and perce
A purely visual mix-up. pègre (\pɛɡʁ\) and perce (\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 60004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pègre is recorded at frequency rank #41,988, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛɡʁ\. perce is at rank #18,016, tagged as anoun, 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 60004, this pair ranks #99,986 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pègre vs perce
Shared letters: epr. Private to "pègre": gè. Private to "perce": c.
"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "perce" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- perce ← eprce · pecre · percce · perec · perrce · pperce · prece
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pègre" and "perce" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pègre" or "perce" show up more?
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 "pègre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,986 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pègre" and "perce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pègre vs Perl". 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 #99,986 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.