Which to use
“périls” is a noun and “périt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,002
- “périls” frequency rank
- #40,446
- “périt” frequency rank
- 64448
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périls | périt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de péril. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de périr. |
Where the eye mixes périls and périt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. périls runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against périt's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between périls and périt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périls is \pe.ʁil\ while périt is \pe.ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
périls is recorded at frequency rank #24,002, 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 64448, this pair ranks #77,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of périls vs périt
Shared letters: ipré. Private to "périls": ls. Private to "périt": t.
"périls" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "périt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "périls" for "périt" ever safe?
Which is more common, "périls" or "périt"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "périls" and "périt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "périls" 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 #77,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périls" and "périt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "périt vs purin". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #77,054 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.