percéevsPerséeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: percée is a noun, Persée is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“percée” is a noun and “Persée” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,826
“percée” frequency rank
#37,476
“Persée” frequency rank
49302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percée Persée
Definition Ouverture pratiquée soit pour faire un chemin, soit pour se procurer un point de vue. Sauveur d’Andromède, fille de Céphée et Cassiopée.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set percée and Persée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
percée
6 ch
Persée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: percée and Persée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛʁ.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other aname, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - c in “percée” becomes s in “Persée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percée is recorded at frequency rank #11,826, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\. Persée is at rank #37,476, tagged as aname, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\.

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 49302, this pair ranks #171,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of percée vs Persée

Shared letters: epré. Private to "percée": c. Private to "Persée": s.

"percée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "Persée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

percée#11,826
Persée#37,476

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percée" and "Persée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "percée" is a noun and "Persée" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "percée" or "Persée"?
"percée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,826 in our French list, against #37,476 for "Persée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering percée vs Persée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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