perdvspriConfusable pair

Quick tell: perd is a verb, pri is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“perd” is a verb and “pri” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,928
“perd” frequency rank
#26,137
“pri” frequency rank
28065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perd pri
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre. Argile, glaise.

Where the eye mixes perd and pri

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
perd
3 ch
pri

Visual trap between perd and pri

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perd is \pɛʁ\ while pri is \ˈpriː\. 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 28065, 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\. pri is at rank #26,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈpriː\.

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 28065, this pair ranks #325,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perd vs pri

Shared letters: pr. Private to "perd": de. Private to "pri": i.

"perd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pri" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perd" and "pri" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perd" is a verb and "pri" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "perd" vs "pri" - which ranks higher?
"perd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,928 in our French list, against #26,137 for "pri". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "pri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perd" and "pri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs pri". 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 #325,121 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