percervspercésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: percer is a verb, percés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set percer and percés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
percer
6 ch
percés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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": .

"percer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • percereprcer · pecrer · perccer · percerr · percre · perecr · perrcer · ppercer

Frequency comparison

percer#9,053
percés#34,666

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percer" and "percés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "percer" is a verb and "percés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "percer" or "percés"?
"percer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,053 in our French list, against #34,666 for "percés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering percer vs percés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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