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 eye mixes périmée and prime
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. périmée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against prime's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses périmée with prime
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
- prime ← pirme · pprime · priem · primme · prmie · prrime · rpime
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "périmée" and "prime" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "périmée" or "prime" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "périmée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périmée" and "prime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "périmée vs priée". 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 #201,615 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.