persvspleursConfusable pair

Quick tell: pers is a adjective, pleurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pers” is an adjective and “pleurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,512
“pers” frequency rank
#9,722
“pleurs” frequency rank
27234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pers pleurs
Definition Qui est entre le bleu et le vert (surtout en parlant des yeux). Pluriel de pleur.

Where the eye mixes pers and pleurs

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

4 ch
pers
6 ch
pleurs

Why the eye confuses pers with pleurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pers is \pɛʁ\ while pleurs is \plœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pers is recorded at frequency rank #17,512, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ\. pleurs is at rank #9,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plœʁ\.

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 27234, this pair ranks #330,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pers vs pleurs

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "pers": -. Private to "pleurs": lu.

"pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pleurs" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseprs · perrs · pesr · ppers
  • pleurslpeurs · pelurs · plerus · pleurrs · pleurss · pleusr · plleurs · pluers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pers" for "pleurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pers" is an adjective and "pleurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pers" or "pleurs"?
"pleurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,722 in our French list, against #17,512 for "pers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pleurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #330,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pers" and "pleurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pers". 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 #330,269 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