perçuevsperduConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,214
“perçue” frequency rank
#634
“perdu” frequency rank
12848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perçue perdu
Definition Féminin singulier de perçu. Dont on n’a plus la possession, la jouissance.

Where the eye mixes perçue and perdu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. perçue runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against perdu's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
perçue
5 ch
perdu

Look-alike desk: perçue vs perdu

A purely visual mix-up. perçue (\pɛʁ.sy\) and perdu (\pɛʁ.dy\) 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 12848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perçue is recorded at frequency rank #12,214, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.sy\. perdu is at rank #634, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.dy\.

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 12848, this pair ranks #403,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perçue vs perdu

Shared letters: epru. Private to "perçue": ç. Private to "perdu": d.

"perçue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "perdu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdueprdu · pedru · perddu · perrdu · perud · pperdu · predu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perçue" and "perdu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.sy\ versus \pɛʁ.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "perçue" or "perdu" show up more?
"perdu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #634 in our French list, against #12,214 for "perçue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perçue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perçue" and "perdu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pécule vs perçue". 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 #403,505 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