Which to use
“pères” is a noun and “permets” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,596
- “pères” frequency rank
- #10,207
- “permets” frequency rank
- 15803
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pères | permets |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de père. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de permettre. |
Where the eye mixes pères and permets
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pères and permets
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pères is \pɛʁ\ while permets is \pɛʁ.mɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pères is recorded at frequency rank #5,596, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ\. permets is at rank #10,207, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛ\.
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 15803, this pair ranks #390,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pères vs permets
Shared letters: eprs. Private to "pères": è. Private to "permets": mt.
"pères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "permets" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- permets ← eprmets · pemrets · peremts · permest · permetss · permetts · permmets · permtes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pères" and "permets" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pères" or "permets" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pères" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pères" and "permets" 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 #390,787 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.