Which to use
“perd” is a verb and “perse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,928
- “perd” frequency rank
- #12,017
- “perse” frequency rank
- 13945
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perd | perse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre. | Langue parlée dans la Perse antique. |
Where the eye mixes perd and perse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. perd runs 4 letters (CVCC) against perse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: perd vs perse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perd is \pɛʁ\ while perse is \pɛʁs\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perd is recorded at frequency rank #1,928, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ\. perse is at rank #12,017, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁs\.
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 13945, this pair ranks #398,845 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perd vs perse
Shared letters: epr. Private to "perd": d. Private to "perse": s.
"perd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "perse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perd" for "perse" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "perd" or "perse" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,845 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perd" and "perse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perse vs peso". 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 #398,845 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.