percésvsperçusTell them apart

Which to use

“percés” and “perçus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,666
“percés” frequency rank
#14,995
“perçus” frequency rank
49661
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percés perçus
Definition Masculin pluriel de percé. Masculin pluriel de perçu.

Where the eye mixes percés and perçus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
percés
6 ch
perçus

Visual trap between percés and perçus

A purely visual mix-up. percés (\pɛʁ.se\) and perçus (\pɛʁ.sy\) 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 49661, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percés is recorded at frequency rank #34,666, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\. perçus is at rank #14,995, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.sy\.

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 49661, this pair ranks #168,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of percés vs perçus

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "percés": . Private to "perçus": .

"percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perçus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "percés" for "perçus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.se\ versus \pɛʁ.sy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "percés" vs "perçus" - which ranks higher?
"perçus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,995 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "percés" and "perçus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "percés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perçus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #168,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "percés" and "perçus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "percés vs pètes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #168,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list