Which to use
“perd” is a verb and “pétard” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,928
- “perd” frequency rank
- #22,055
- “pétard” frequency rank
- 23983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perd | pétard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre. | Expression de surprise, d’étonnement, de stupéfaction ; putain. |
Where the eye mixes perd and pétard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. perd runs 4 letters (CVCC) against pétard's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses perd with pétard
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perd is \pɛʁ\ while pétard is \pe.taʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23983, 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\. pétard is at rank #22,055, tagged as anintj, pronounced \pe.taʁ\.
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 23983, this pair ranks #349,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perd vs pétard
Shared letters: dpr. Private to "perd": e. Private to "pétard": até.
"perd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pétard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perd ← eprd · pedr · perdd · perrd · pperd · pred
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perd" for "pétard" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "perd" or "pétard" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "pétard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perd" and "pétard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pétard vs pétri". 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 #349,332 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.