perfsvspertesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,951
“perfs” frequency rank
#3,485
“pertes” frequency rank
50436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perfs pertes
Definition Pluriel de perf. Pluriel de perte.

Where the eye mixes perfs and pertes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
perfs
6 ch
pertes

Look-alike desk: perfs vs pertes

A purely visual mix-up. perfs (\pɛʁf\) and pertes (\pɛʁt\) 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 50436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perfs is recorded at frequency rank #46,951, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁf\. pertes is at rank #3,485, 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 50436, this pair ranks #162,652 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perfs vs pertes

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "perfs": f. Private to "pertes": t.

"perfs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "pertes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perfseprfs · pefrs · perffs · perfss · perrfs · persf · pperfs · prefs
  • perteseprtes · perets · perrtes · pertess · pertse · perttes · petres · ppertes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perfs" and "pertes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁf\ versus \pɛʁt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perfs" vs "pertes" - which ranks higher?
"pertes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,485 in our French list, against #46,951 for "perfs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perfs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pertes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #162,652 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perfs" and "pertes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perfs vs pètes". 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 #162,652 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