percutévspercuterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,812
“percuté” frequency rank
#29,905
“percuter” frequency rank
50717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percuté percuter
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de percuter. Frapper, avec l’idée d’un choc violent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set percuté and percuter apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
percuté
8 ch
percuter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. percuté and percuter are pronounced identically (\pɛʁ.ky.te\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percuté is recorded at frequency rank #20,812, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.ky.te\. percuter is at rank #29,905, 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 50717, this pair ranks #160,501 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of percuté vs percuter

Shared letters: ceprtu. Private to "percuté": é. Private to "percuter": -.

"percuté" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "percuter" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • percutereprcuter · pecruter · perccuter · perctuer · percuetr · percuterr · percutre · percutter

Frequency comparison

percuté#20,812
percuter#29,905

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percuté" and "percuter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pɛʁ.ky.te\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "percuté" or "percuter"?
"percuté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,812 in our French list, against #29,905 for "percuter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering percuté vs percuter

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 “percuté” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list