pègrevspersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pègre is a noun, pers is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pègre” is a noun and “pers” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,988
“pègre” frequency rank
#17,512
“pers” frequency rank
59500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pègre pers
Definition Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. Qui est entre le bleu et le vert (surtout en parlant des yeux).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pègre and pers apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pègre
4 ch
pers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pègre is \pɛɡʁ\ while pers is \pɛʁ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59500, 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\. pers is at rank #17,512, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ\.

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 59500, this pair ranks #102,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pègre vs pers

Shared letters: epr. Private to "pègre": . Private to "pers": s.

"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseprs · perrs · pesr · ppers

Frequency comparison

pègre#41,988
pers#17,512

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pègre" and "pers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pègre" is a noun and "pers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pègre" or "pers"?
"pers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,512 in our French list, against #41,988 for "pègre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pègre vs pers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pègre”; for an adjective, it's “pers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pègre” 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