Which to use
“perds” is a verb and “perte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,378
- “perds” frequency rank
- #1,418
- “perte” frequency rank
- 6796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perds | perte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de perdre. | Privation de quelque chose de précieux, d’agréable, de commode, qu’on avait. |
Where the eye mixes perds and perte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses perds with perte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perds is \pɛʁ\ while perte is \pɛʁt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6796, 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\. perte is at rank #1,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁt\.
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 6796, this pair ranks #425,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perds vs perte
Shared letters: epr. Private to "perds": ds. Private to "perte": t.
"perds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "perte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perds" for "perte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "perds" or "perte"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "perds" and "perte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "perds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perds" and "perte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perds vs pètes". 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 #425,200 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.