perçuevsperdusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,214
“perçue” frequency rank
#5,799
“perdus” frequency rank
18013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perçue perdus
Definition Féminin singulier de perçu. Masculin pluriel de perdu.

Where the eye mixes perçue and perdus

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

6 ch
perçue
6 ch
perdus

Look-alike desk: perçue vs perdus

A purely visual mix-up. perçue (\pɛʁ.sy\) and perdus (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18013, 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\. perdus is at rank #5,799, 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 18013, this pair ranks #380,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perçue vs perdus

Shared letters: epru. Private to "perçue": ç. Private to "perdus": ds.

"perçue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "perdus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perduseprdus · pedrus · perddus · perdsu · perduss · perrdus · peruds · pperdus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perçue" and "perdus" 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.
Frequency check: "perçue" vs "perdus" - which ranks higher?
"perdus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,799 in our French list, against #12,214 for "perçue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perçue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #380,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perçue" and "perdus" 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 #380,396 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