Which to use
“périls” and “poils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,002
- “périls” frequency rank
- #5,692
- “poils” frequency rank
- 29694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périls | poils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de péril. | Pluriel de poil. |
Where the eye mixes périls and poils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. périls runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against poils's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between périls and poils
A purely visual mix-up. périls (\pe.ʁil\) and poils (\pwal\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29694, 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\. poils is at rank #5,692, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwal\.
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 29694, this pair ranks #315,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of périls vs poils
Shared letters: ilps. Private to "périls": ré. Private to "poils": o.
"périls" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "poils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poils ← opils · piols · poills · poilss · poisl · ppoils
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "périls" and "poils" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "périls" or "poils" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "périls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périls" and "poils" 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 #315,065 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.