Which to use
“perdue” is an adjective and “perte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,009
- “perdue” frequency rank
- #1,418
- “perte” frequency rank
- 5427
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perdue | perte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de perdu. | Privation de quelque chose de précieux, d’agréable, de commode, qu’on avait. |
Where the eye mixes perdue and perte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between perdue and perte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdue is \pɛʁ.dy\ while perte is \pɛʁt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perdue is recorded at frequency rank #4,009, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.dy\. 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 5427, this pair ranks #429,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perdue vs perte
Shared letters: epr. Private to "perdue": du. Private to "perte": t.
"perdue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "perte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perdue" for "perte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "perdue" or "perte"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perdue" 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 #429,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perdue" and "perte" 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 #429,042 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.