Which to use
“persistent” and “persister” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,626
- “persistent” frequency rank
- #31,178
- “persister” frequency rank
- 50804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | persistent | persister |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de persister. | Demeurer ferme et arrêté dans son sentiment, dans ce qu’on a dit, dans ce qu’on a résolu, en dépit d’une résistance. |
Where the eye mixes persistent and persister
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between persistent and persister
A purely visual mix-up. persistent (\pɛʁ.sist\) and persister (\pɛʁ.sis.te\) 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 50804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
persistent is recorded at frequency rank #19,626, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.sist\. persister is at rank #31,178, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.sis.te\.
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 50804, this pair ranks #159,845 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of persistent vs persister
Shared letters: eiprst. Private to "persistent": n. Private to "persister": -.
"persistent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "persister" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- persistent ← eprsistent · perisstent · perrsistent · persisetnt · persisstent · persistennt · persistentt · persistetn
- persister ← eprsister · perisster · perrsister · persisetr · persisster · persisterr · persistre · persistter
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "persistent" for "persister" ever safe?
Which is more common, "persistent" or "persister"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "persistent" and "persister" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "persistent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persister" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #159,845 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "persistent" and "persister" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persisté vs persister". 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 #159,845 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.