perdvspétardWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: perd is a verb, pétard is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set perd and pétard apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
perd
6 ch
pétard

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • perdeprd · pedr · perdd · perrd · pperd · pred

Frequency comparison

perd#1,928
pétard#22,055

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perd" and "pétard" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perd" is a verb and "pétard" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "perd" or "pétard"?
"perd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,928 in our French list, against #22,055 for "pétard". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering perd vs pétard

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “perd”; for an intj, it's “pétard”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “perd” 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