Which to use
“péril” is a noun and “périt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,489
- “péril” frequency rank
- #40,446
- “périt” frequency rank
- 47935
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | péril | périt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Danger, risque, état où il y a quelque chose de fâcheux à craindre. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de périr. |
Where the eye mixes péril and périt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses péril with périt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: péril is \pe.ʁil\ while périt is \pe.ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “péril” becomes t in “périt”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
péril is recorded at frequency rank #7,489, classified as anoun, pronounced \pe.ʁil\. périt is at rank #40,446, tagged as averb, pronounced \pe.ʁi\.
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 47935, this pair ranks #182,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of péril vs périt
Shared letters: ipré. Private to "péril": l. Private to "périt": t.
"péril" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "périt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "péril" and "périt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "péril" or "périt"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "péril" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "périt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "péril" and "périt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "périt vs purin". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #182,984 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.