Which to use
“perdre” and “périr” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #794
- “perdre” frequency rank
- #27,204
- “périr” frequency rank
- 27998
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perdre | périr |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Être privé de quelque chose qu’on avait, qu’on possédait. | Prendre fin ; cesser d’être. |
Where the eye mixes perdre and périr
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: perdre vs périr
A purely visual mix-up. perdre (\pɛʁdʁ\) and périr (\pe.ʁiʁ\) 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 27998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perdre is recorded at frequency rank #794, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁdʁ\. périr is at rank #27,204, tagged as averb, pronounced \pe.ʁiʁ\.
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 27998, this pair ranks #325,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perdre vs périr
Shared letters: pr. Private to "perdre": de. Private to "périr": ié.
"perdre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "périr" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perdre ← eprdre · pedrre · perddre · perder · perdrre · perrde · perrdre · pperdre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "perdre" and "périr" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "perdre" or "périr"?
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 "périr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perdre" and "périr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peler vs périr". 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 #325,513 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.