Which to use
“périls” is a noun and “perses” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,002
- “périls” frequency rank
- #20,814
- “perses” frequency rank
- 44816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périls | perses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de péril. | Pluriel de perse. |
Where the eye mixes périls and perses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. périls (CVCVCC) and perses (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses périls with perses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périls is \pe.ʁil\ while perses is \pɛʁs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44816, 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\. perses is at rank #20,814, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁs\.
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 44816, this pair ranks #207,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of périls vs perses
Shared letters: prs. Private to "périls": ilé. Private to "perses": e.
"périls" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "perses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perses ← eprses · peress · perrses · persess · persses · pesres · pperses · preses
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "périls" for "perses" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "périls" or "perses" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "périls" and "perses" 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 "perses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #207,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périls" and "perses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parias vs périls". 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 #207,594 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.