périméevsprimeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“périmée” and “prime” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,551
“périmée” frequency rank
#3,031
“prime” frequency rank
45582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature périmée prime
Definition Féminin singulier de périmé. Premier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set périmée and prime apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
périmée
5 ch
prime

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. périmée (\pe.ʁi.me\) and prime (\pʁim\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

périmée is recorded at frequency rank #42,551, classified as anadj, pronounced \pe.ʁi.me\. prime is at rank #3,031, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁim\.

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 45582, this pair ranks #201,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of périmée vs prime

Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "périmée": é. Private to "prime": -.

"périmée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "prime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • primepirme · pprime · priem · primme · prmie · prrime · rpime

Frequency comparison

périmée#42,551
prime#3,031

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "périmée" and "prime" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pe.ʁi.me\ versus \pʁim\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "périmée" or "prime"?
"prime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,031 in our French list, against #42,551 for "périmée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering périmée vs prime

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “périmée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list