Which to use
“perds” is a verb and “pères” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,378
- “perds” frequency rank
- #5,596
- “pères” frequency rank
- 10974
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perds | pères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre. | Pluriel de père. |
Same sound, different letters: perds vs pères
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - perds and pères
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: perds and pères carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perds is recorded at frequency rank #5,378, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ\. pères is at rank #5,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ\.
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 10974, this pair ranks #410,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perds vs pères
Shared letters: eprs. Private to "perds": d. Private to "pères": è.
"perds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "pères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perds ← eprds · pedrs · perdds · perdss · perrds · persd · pperds · preds
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "perds" and "pères" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "perds" or "pères"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "perds" / "pères". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "perds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perds" and "pères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pères vs prep". 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 #410,953 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.