Which to use
“percer” is a verb and “percés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,053
- “percer” frequency rank
- #34,666
- “percés” frequency rank
- 43719
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | percer | percés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Traverser en faisant un trou ou une ouverture ; perforer. | Masculin pluriel de percé. |
Same sound, different letters: percer vs percés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. percer and percés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: percer vs percés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: percer and percés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛʁ.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
percer is recorded at frequency rank #9,053, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\. percés is at rank #34,666, tagged as anadj, 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 43719, this pair ranks #215,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of percer vs percés
Shared letters: cepr. Private to "percer": -. Private to "percés": sé.
"percer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- percer ← eprcer · pecrer · perccer · percerr · percre · perecr · perrcer · ppercer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "percer" and "percés" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "percer" or "percés"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "percer" / "percés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "percer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "percés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "percer" and "percés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "percés 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 #215,949 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.