Which to use
“périmée” is an adjective and “primée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,551
- “périmée” frequency rank
- #45,245
- “primée” frequency rank
- 87796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périmée | primée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de périmé. | Participe passé féminin singulier de primer. |
Where the eye mixes périmée and primée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. périmée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against primée's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses périmée with primée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périmée is \pe.ʁi.me\ while primée is \pʁi.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87796, 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\. primée is at rank #45,245, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.me\.
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 87796, this pair ranks #7,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of périmée vs primée
Shared letters: eimpré. Private to "périmée": -. Private to "primée": -.
"périmée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "primée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "périmée" and "primée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "périmée" or "primée" 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 "primée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périmée" and "primée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "priée vs primée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #7,801 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.