perfectionvspersécutionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,737
“perfection” frequency rank
#14,535
“persécution” frequency rank
22272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perfection persécution
Definition Qualité de ce qui est parfait dans son genre. Vexation, poursuite injuste et violente.

Where the eye mixes perfection and persécution

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. perfection runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVVC) against persécution's 11 (CVCCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
perfection
11 ch
persécution

Look-alike desk: perfection vs persécution

A purely visual mix-up. perfection (\pɛʁ.fɛk.sjɔ̃\) and persécution (\pɛʁ.se.ky.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perfection is recorded at frequency rank #7,737, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.fɛk.sjɔ̃\. persécution is at rank #14,535, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.se.ky.sjɔ̃\.

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 22272, this pair ranks #358,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perfection vs persécution

Shared letters: ceinoprt. Private to "perfection": f. Private to "persécution": sué.

"perfection" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "persécution" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perfection ← eprfection · pefrection · perefction · perfcetion · perfecction · perfeciton · perfectino · perfectionn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perfection" and "persécution" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.fɛk.sjɔ̃\ versus \pɛʁ.se.ky.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perfection" or "persécution"?
"perfection" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,737 in our French list, against #14,535 for "persécution". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "perfection" and "persécution" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perfection" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persécution" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #358,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perfection" and "persécution" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perfection vs perfectionné". 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 #358,902 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