Which to use
“perde” is a verb and “pré” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,654
- “perde” frequency rank
- #2,849
- “pré” frequency rank
- 16503
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perde | pré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de perdre. | Champ où pousse de l’herbe (naturelle ou cultivée), où l’on recueille du foin, ou qui sert au pâturage. |
Where the eye mixes perde and pré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses perde with pré
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perde is \pɛʁd\ while pré is \pʁe\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16503, 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\. pré is at rank #2,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁe\.
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 16503, this pair ranks #387,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perde vs pré
Shared letters: pr. Private to "perde": de. Private to "pré": é.
"perde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pré" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- perde ← eprde · pedre · perdde · pered · pperde · prede
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perde" for "pré" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "perde" or "pré" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "perde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perde" and "pré" 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 #387,546 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.