Which to use
“périls” is a noun and “petits” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,002
- “périls” frequency rank
- #587
- “petits” frequency rank
- 24589
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périls | petits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de péril. | Masculin pluriel de petit. |
Where the eye mixes périls and petits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: périls vs petits
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périls is \pe.ʁil\ while petits is \pə.ti\. 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 24589, 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\. petits is at rank #587, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pə.ti\.
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 24589, this pair ranks #345,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of périls vs petits
Shared letters: ips. Private to "périls": lré. Private to "petits": et.
"périls" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "petits" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- petits ← eptits · peitts · petist · petitss · petitts · pettis · pettits · ppetits
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "périls" for "petits" ever safe?
Which is more common, "périls" or "petits"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "périls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "petits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #345,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périls" and "petits" 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 #345,750 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.