Which to use
“perpétré” and “perpétuer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,076
- “perpétré” frequency rank
- #20,813
- “perpétuer” frequency rank
- 49889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perpétré | perpétuer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de perpétrer. | Rendre perpétuel ; faire durer sans cesse, constamment. |
Where the eye mixes perpétré and perpétuer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. perpétré runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against perpétuer's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: perpétré vs perpétuer
A purely visual mix-up. perpétré (\pɛʁ.pe.tʁe\) and perpétuer (\pɛʁ.pe.tɥe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perpétré is recorded at frequency rank #29,076, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.pe.tʁe\. perpétuer is at rank #20,813, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.pe.tɥe\.
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 49889, this pair ranks #167,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perpétré vs perpétuer
Shared letters: eprté. Private to "perpétré": -. Private to "perpétuer": u.
"perpétré" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "perpétuer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perpétré" for "perpétuer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "perpétré" vs "perpétuer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perpétré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perpétuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perpétré" and "perpétuer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perpétuent vs perpétuer". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #167,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.