Which to use
“perse” and “persil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,017
- “perse” frequency rank
- #25,434
- “persil” frequency rank
- 37451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perse | persil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue parlée dans la Perse antique. | 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 perse and persil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between perse and persil
A purely visual mix-up. perse (\pɛʁs\) and persil (\pɛʁ.sil\) 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 37451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perse is recorded at frequency rank #12,017, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁs\. 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 37451, this pair ranks #262,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perse vs persil
Shared letters: eprs. Private to "perse": -. Private to "persil": il.
"perse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "persil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "perse" and "persil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "perse" or "persil"?
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 "perse" 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 #262,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perse" 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 #262,433 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.