Which to use
“permis” is an adjective and “persil” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #827
- “permis” frequency rank
- #25,434
- “persil” frequency rank
- 26261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permis | persil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas interdit. | Plante potagère aromatique de la famille des apiacées qui ressemble au cerfeuil et qui sert à divers usages pour la cuisine. |
Where the eye mixes permis and persil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses permis with persil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: permis is \pɛʁ.mi\ while persil is \pɛʁ.sil\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26261, 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\. persil is at rank #25,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.sil\.
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 26261, this pair ranks #336,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of permis vs persil
Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "permis": m. Private to "persil": l.
"permis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "persil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "permis" for "persil" ever safe?
Which is more common, "permis" or "persil"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "permis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "permis" and "persil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pensif vs persil". 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 #336,144 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.