Which to use
“pègre” is a noun and “perdre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,988
- “pègre” frequency rank
- #794
- “perdre” frequency rank
- 42782
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pègre | perdre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. | Être privé de quelque chose qu’on avait, qu’on possédait. |
Where the eye mixes pègre and perdre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pègre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against perdre's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pègre with perdre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pègre is \pɛɡʁ\ while perdre is \pɛʁdʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42782, 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\. perdre is at rank #794, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁdʁ\.
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 42782, this pair ranks #222,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pègre vs perdre
Shared letters: epr. Private to "pègre": gè. Private to "perdre": d.
"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "perdre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- perdre ← eprdre · pedrre · perddre · perder · perdrre · perrde · perrdre · pperdre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pègre" and "perdre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pègre" or "perdre"?
Useful next steps
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 "perdre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #222,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pègre" and "perdre" 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 #222,997 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.