Which to use
“perde” and “pierce” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,654
- “perde” frequency rank
- #20,235
- “pierce” frequency rank
- 33889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perde | pierce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de perdre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe piercer. |
Where the eye mixes perde and pierce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between perde and pierce
A purely visual mix-up. perde (\pɛʁd\) and pierce (\piʁs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perde is recorded at frequency rank #13,654, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁd\. pierce is at rank #20,235, tagged as averb, pronounced \piʁs\.
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 33889, this pair ranks #287,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perde vs pierce
Shared letters: epr. Private to "perde": d. Private to "pierce": ci.
"perde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pierce" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perde" for "pierce" ever safe?
Which is more common, "perde" or "pierce"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pierce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perde" and "pierce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perde vs prude". 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 #287,596 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.