Which to use
“percer” and “pincer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,053
- “percer” frequency rank
- #30,739
- “pincer” frequency rank
- 39792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | percer | pincer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Traverser en faisant un trou ou une ouverture ; perforer. | Serrer fortement avec une pince, avec des tenailles ou autres instruments semblables. |
Where the eye mixes percer and pincer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. percer and pincer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: percer vs pincer
A purely visual mix-up. percer (\pɛʁ.se\) and pincer (\pɛ̃.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39792, 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\. pincer is at rank #30,739, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛ̃.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 39792, this pair ranks #245,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of percer vs pincer
Shared letters: cepr. Private to "percer": -. Private to "pincer": in.
"percer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pincer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "percer" for "pincer" ever safe?
Which is more common, "percer" or "pincer"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "percer" and "pincer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "percer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pincer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "percer" and "pincer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Panzer vs pincer". 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 #245,350 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.