périrentvspertinentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: périrent is a verb, pertinent is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“périrent” is a verb and “pertinent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,129
“périrent” frequency rank
#11,457
“pertinent” frequency rank
59586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature périrent pertinent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de périr. Qui est tel qu’il convient, qui est approprié, qui est en rapport avec le sujet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set périrent and pertinent apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
périrent
9 ch
pertinent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: périrent is \pe.ʁiʁ\ while pertinent is \pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

périrent is recorded at frequency rank #48,129, classified as averb, pronounced \pe.ʁiʁ\. pertinent is at rank #11,457, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\.

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 59586, this pair ranks #102,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of périrent vs pertinent

Shared letters: einprt. Private to "périrent": é. Private to "pertinent": -.

"périrent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "pertinent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pertinenteprtinent · peritnent · perrtinent · pertiennt · pertinennt · pertinentt · pertinetn · pertinnent

Frequency comparison

périrent#48,129
pertinent#11,457

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "périrent" and "pertinent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "périrent" is a verb and "pertinent" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "périrent" or "pertinent"?
"pertinent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,457 in our French list, against #48,129 for "périrent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering périrent vs pertinent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “périrent”; for an adjective, it's “pertinent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “périrent” 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