percésvsperteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: percés is a adjective, perte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“percés” is an adjective and “perte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,666
“percés” frequency rank
#1,418
“perte” frequency rank
36084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percés perte
Definition Masculin pluriel de percé. Privation de quelque chose de précieux, d’agréable, de commode, qu’on avait.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set percés and perte apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
percés
5 ch
perte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: percés is \pɛʁ.se\ while perte is \pɛʁt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36084, 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\. perte is at rank #1,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁt\.

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 36084, this pair ranks #272,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of percés vs perte

Shared letters: epr. Private to "percés": csé. Private to "perte": t.

"percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perteeprte · peret · perrte · pertte · petre · pperte · prete

Frequency comparison

percés#34,666
perte#1,418

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percés" and "perte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "percés" is an adjective and "perte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "percés" or "perte"?
"perte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,418 in our French list, against #34,666 for "percés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering percés vs perte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “percés”; for a noun, it's “perte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “percés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list