Which to use
“périmés” is an adjective and “primus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,990
- “périmés” frequency rank
- #45,244
- “primus” frequency rank
- 87234
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | périmés | primus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de périmé. | Réchaud à pétrole pressurisé par une pompe manuelle |
Where the eye mixes périmés and primus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. périmés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against primus's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses périmés with primus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périmés is \pe.ʁi.me\ while primus is \pʁi.mys\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
périmés is recorded at frequency rank #41,990, classified as anadj, pronounced \pe.ʁi.me\. primus is at rank #45,244, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.mys\.
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 87234, this pair ranks #8,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of périmés vs primus
Shared letters: imprs. Private to "périmés": é. Private to "primus": u.
"périmés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "primus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- primus ← pirmus · pprimus · primmus · primsu · primuss · priums · prmius · prrimus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "périmés" for "primus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "périmés" vs "primus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "périmés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "primus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "périmés" and "primus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "primeurs vs primus". 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 #8,565 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.