Which to use
“permis” is an adjective and “permise” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #827
- “permis” frequency rank
- #19,098
- “permise” frequency rank
- 19925
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permis | permise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas interdit. | Participe passé féminin singulier de permettre. |
Where the eye mixes permis and permise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses permis with permise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: permis is \pɛʁ.mi\ while permise is \pɛʁ.miz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “permis” sits inside “permise”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
permis is recorded at frequency rank #827, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.mi\. permise is at rank #19,098, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.miz\.
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 19925, this pair ranks #370,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of permis vs permise
Shared letters: eimprs. Private to "permis": -. Private to "permise": -.
"permis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "permise" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "permis" and "permise" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "permis" or "permise" 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 "permis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "permis" and "permise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permise vs persisté". 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 #370,829 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.