perdaitvsperdraiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,713
“perdait” frequency rank
#49,266
“perdrai” frequency rank
64979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdait perdrai
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de perdre. Première personne du singulier du futur de perdre.

Where the eye mixes perdait and perdrai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perdait (CVCCVVC) and perdrai (CVCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
perdait
7 ch
perdrai

Why the eye confuses perdait with perdrai

A purely visual mix-up. perdait (\pɛʁ.dɛ\) and perdrai (\pɛʁ.dʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdait is recorded at frequency rank #15,713, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.dɛ\. perdrai is at rank #49,266, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.dʁe\.

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 64979, this pair ranks #74,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perdait vs perdrai

Shared letters: adeipr. Private to "perdait": t. Private to "perdrai": -.

"perdait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "perdrai" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdait ← eprdait · pedrait · peradit · perdaitt · perdati · perddait · perdiat · perrdait
  • perdrai ← eprdrai · pedrrai · perdari · perddrai · perdria · perdrrai · perrdai · perrdrai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdait" for "perdrai" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.dɛ\ versus \pɛʁ.dʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perdait" or "perdrai"?
"perdait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,713 in our French list, against #49,266 for "perdrai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdrai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdait" and "perdrai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perdrai vs perdras". 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 #74,449 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