percésvspérimésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,666
“percés” frequency rank
#41,990
“périmés” frequency rank
76656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percés périmés
Definition Masculin pluriel de percé. Masculin pluriel de périmé.

Where the eye mixes percés and périmés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. percés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against périmés's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
percés
7 ch
périmés

Visual trap between percés and périmés

A purely visual mix-up. percés (\pɛʁ.se\) and périmés (\pe.ʁi.me\) 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 76656, 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\. périmés is at rank #41,990, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pe.ʁi.me\.

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 76656, this pair ranks #30,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of percés vs périmés

Shared letters: prsé. Private to "percés": ce. Private to "périmés": im.

"percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "périmés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percés" and "périmés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.se\ versus \pe.ʁi.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "percés" vs "périmés" - which ranks higher?
"percés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,666 in our French list, against #41,990 for "périmés". 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 "périmés" 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 "périmés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "percés" and "périmés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "périmés vs primée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,524 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