Which to use
“perce” and “perfs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,016
- “perce” frequency rank
- #46,951
- “perfs” frequency rank
- 64967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perce | perfs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Outil pour percer. | Pluriel de perf. |
Where the eye mixes perce and perfs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. perce (CVCCV) and perfs (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between perce and perfs
A purely visual mix-up. perce (\pɛʁs\) and perfs (\pɛʁf\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perce is recorded at frequency rank #18,016, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁs\. perfs is at rank #46,951, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁf\.
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 64967, this pair ranks #74,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of perce vs perfs
Shared letters: epr. Private to "perce": c. Private to "perfs": fs.
"perce" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "perfs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "perce" and "perfs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "perce" or "perfs"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perfs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perce" and "perfs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perfs vs pètes". 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 #74,500 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.