Which to use
“perdre” is a verb and “perdue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #794
- “perdre” frequency rank
- #4,009
- “perdue” frequency rank
- 4803
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perdre | perdue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Être privé de quelque chose qu’on avait, qu’on possédait. | Féminin singulier de perdu. |
Where the eye mixes perdre and perdue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: perdre vs perdue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdre is \pɛʁdʁ\ while perdue is \pɛʁ.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “perdre” becomes u in “perdue”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perdre is recorded at frequency rank #794, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁdʁ\. perdue is at rank #4,009, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.dy\.
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 4803, this pair ranks #430,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perdre vs perdue
Shared letters: depr. Private to "perdre": -. Private to "perdue": u.
"perdre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "perdue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "perdre" and "perdue" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "perdre" vs "perdue" - which ranks higher?
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 "perdre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perdue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #430,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perdre" and "perdue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perdrez vs perdue". 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 #430,653 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.