Which to use
“percer” and “perchée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,053
- “percer” frequency rank
- #34,245
- “perchée” frequency rank
- 43298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | percer | perchée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Traverser en faisant un trou ou une ouverture ; perforer. | Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe percher. |
Where the eye mixes percer and perchée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. percer runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against perchée's 7 (CVCCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses percer with perchée
A purely visual mix-up. percer (\pɛʁ.se\) and perchée (\pɛʁ.ʃe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43298, 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\. perchée is at rank #34,245, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.ʃe\.
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 43298, this pair ranks #219,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of percer vs perchée
Shared letters: cepr. Private to "percer": -. Private to "perchée": hé.
"percer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "perchée" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- percer ← eprcer · pecrer · perccer · percerr · percre · perecr · perrcer · ppercer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "percer" and "perchée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "percer" vs "perchée" - which ranks higher?
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 "percer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perchée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "percer" and "perchée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perchée vs périnée". 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 #219,160 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.