Which to use
“percer” and “péter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,053
- “percer” frequency rank
- #7,226
- “péter” frequency rank
- 16279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | percer | péter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Traverser en faisant un trou ou une ouverture ; perforer. | Rejeter un gaz par l’anus. Faire un pet. |
Where the eye mixes percer and péter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses percer with péter
A purely visual mix-up. percer (\pɛʁ.se\) and péter (\pe.te\) 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 16279, 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\. péter is at rank #7,226, tagged as averb, pronounced \pe.te\.
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 16279, this pair ranks #388,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of percer vs péter
Shared letters: epr. Private to "percer": c. Private to "péter": té.
"percer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "péter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- percer ← eprcer · pecrer · perccer · percerr · percre · perecr · perrcer · ppercer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "percer" and "péter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "percer" vs "péter" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "péter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "percer" and "péter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peler vs percer". 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 #388,553 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.