permisvspersosTell them apart

Which to use

“permis” and “persos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#827
“permis” frequency rank
#18,557
“persos” frequency rank
19384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permis persos
Definition Qui n’est pas interdit. Pluriel de perso.

Where the eye mixes permis and persos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
permis
6 ch
persos

Look-alike desk: permis vs persos

A purely visual mix-up. permis (\pɛʁ.mi\) and persos (\pɛʁ.so\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19384, 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\. persos is at rank #18,557, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.so\.

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 19384, this pair ranks #373,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permis vs persos

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "permis": im. Private to "persos": o.

"permis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "persos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiseprmis · pemris · perims · permiss · permmis · permsi · perrmis · ppermis
  • persoseprsos · peross · perrsos · persoss · perssos · pesros · ppersos · presos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "permis" for "persos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.mi\ versus \pɛʁ.so\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permis" or "persos"?
"permis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #827 in our French list, against #18,557 for "persos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "persos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #373,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permis" and "persos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pernod vs persos". 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 #373,547 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