pèresvspersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pères is a noun, pers is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pères” is a noun and “pers” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,596
“pères” frequency rank
#17,512
“pers” frequency rank
23108
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pères pers
Definition Pluriel de père. Qui est entre le bleu et le vert (surtout en parlant des yeux).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pères and pers apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pères
4 ch
pers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: pères and pers carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23108, 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\. pers is at rank #17,512, tagged as anadj, 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 23108, this pair ranks #354,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pères vs pers

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "pères": è. Private to "pers": -.

"pères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseprs · perrs · pesr · ppers

Frequency comparison

pères#5,596
pers#17,512

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pères" and "pers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pères" is a noun and "pers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pères" or "pers"?
"pères" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,596 in our French list, against #17,512 for "pers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pères vs pers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pères”; for an adjective, it's “pers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pères” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list