perçuvspercutéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,609
“perçu” frequency rank
#20,812
“percuté” frequency rank
28421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perçu percuté
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe percevoir. Participe passé masculin singulier de percuter.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set perçu and percuté apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
perçu
7 ch
percuté

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. perçu (\pɛʁ.sy\) and percuté (\pɛʁ.ky.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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perçu is recorded at frequency rank #7,609, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.sy\. percuté is at rank #20,812, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.ky.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 28421, this pair ranks #322,935 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perçu vs percuté

Shared letters: epru. Private to "perçu": ç. Private to "percuté": cté.

"perçu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "percuté" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequency comparison

perçu#7,609
percuté#20,812

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perçu" and "percuté" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.sy\ versus \pɛʁ.ky.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perçu" or "percuté"?
"perçu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,609 in our French list, against #20,812 for "percuté". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering perçu vs percuté

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “perçu” 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