permetsvsperversConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#10,207
“permets” frequency rank
#7,476
“pervers” frequency rank
17683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permets pervers
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de permettre. Qui est méchant, dépravé et naturellement enclin au mal.

Where the eye mixes permets and pervers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
permets
7 ch
pervers

Why the eye confuses permets with pervers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: permets is \pɛʁ.mɛ\ while pervers is \pɛʁ.vɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permets is recorded at frequency rank #10,207, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛ\. pervers is at rank #7,476, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.vɛʁ\.

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 17683, this pair ranks #381,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permets vs pervers

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "permets": mt. Private to "pervers": v.

"permets" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "pervers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permetseprmets · pemrets · peremts · permest · permetss · permetts · permmets · permtes
  • perverseprvers · perevrs · perrvers · perverrs · perverss · pervesr · pervres · pervvers

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "permets" and "pervers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "permets" is a verb and "pervers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "permets" vs "pervers" - which ranks higher?
"pervers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,476 in our French list, against #10,207 for "permets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "permets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pervers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #381,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permets" and "pervers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pervers vs perverses". 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 #381,984 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list