pérennevspérennesConfusable pair

Which to use

“pérenne” and “pérennes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,995
“pérenne” frequency rank
#37,990
“pérennes” frequency rank
60985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pérenne pérennes
Definition Qui dure toujours, qui dure toute l’année. Pluriel de pérenne.

Same sound, different letters: pérenne vs pérennes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. pérenne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against pérennes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
pérenne
8 ch
pérennes

Homophone desk: pérenne vs pérennes

This is the hard kind. pérenne and pérennes are pronounced identically (\pe.ʁɛn\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “pérenne” sits inside “pérennes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pérenne is recorded at frequency rank #22,995, classified as anadj, pronounced \pe.ʁɛn\. pérennes is at rank #37,990, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pe.ʁɛn\.

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 60985, this pair ranks #94,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pérenne vs pérennes

Shared letters: enpré. Private to "pérenne": -. Private to "pérennes": s.

"pérenne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "pérennes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pérenne" and "pérennes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pe.ʁɛn\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "pérenne" or "pérennes" show up more?
"pérenne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,995 in our French list, against #37,990 for "pérennes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pérenne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pérennes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pérenne" and "pérennes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "païennes vs pérennes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #94,709 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list