périvspersilConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,649
“péri” frequency rank
#25,434
“persil” frequency rank
38083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature péri persil
Definition Génie féminin qui, dans les contes persans, joue un rôle analogue à celui des fées dans les contes occidentaux. Plante potagère aromatique de la famille des apiacées qui ressemble au cerfeuil et qui sert à divers usages pour la cuisine.

Where the eye mixes péri and persil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
péri
6 ch
persil

Why the eye confuses péri with persil

A purely visual mix-up. péri (\pe.ʁi\) and persil (\pɛʁ.sil\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

péri is recorded at frequency rank #12,649, classified as anoun, pronounced \pe.ʁi\. persil is at rank #25,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.sil\.

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 38083, this pair ranks #257,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of péri vs persil

Shared letters: ipr. Private to "péri": é. Private to "persil": els.

"péri" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "persil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persileprsil · perisl · perrsil · persill · persli · perssil · pesril · ppersil

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "péri" and "persil" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pe.ʁi\ versus \pɛʁ.sil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "péri" or "persil" show up more?
"péri" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,649 in our French list, against #25,434 for "persil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "péri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #257,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "péri" and "persil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pensif vs persil". 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 #257,779 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