Which to use
“perte” and “pète” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,418
- “perte” frequency rank
- #10,769
- “pète” frequency rank
- 12187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perte | pète |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Privation de quelque chose de précieux, d’agréable, de commode, qu’on avait. | Joint. |
Where the eye mixes perte and pète
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: perte vs pète
A purely visual mix-up. perte (\pɛʁt\) and pète (\pɛt\) 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 12187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perte is recorded at frequency rank #1,418, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁt\. pète is at rank #10,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛt\.
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 12187, this pair ranks #406,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of perte vs pète
Shared letters: ept. Private to "perte": r. Private to "pète": è.
"perte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pète" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- perte ← eprte · peret · perrte · pertte · petre · pperte · prete
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perte" for "pète" ever safe?
Which is more common, "perte" or "pète"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pète" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perte" and "pète" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pète". 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 #406,244 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.