pertesvspetsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pertes” and “pets” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,485
“pertes” frequency rank
#29,078
“pets” frequency rank
32563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pertes pets
Definition Pluriel de perte. Pluriel de pet.

Where the eye mixes pertes and pets

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

6 ch
pertes
4 ch
pets

Look-alike desk: pertes vs pets

A purely visual mix-up. pertes (\pɛʁt\) and pets (\pɛ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pertes is recorded at frequency rank #3,485, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁt\. pets is at rank #29,078, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ\.

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 32563, this pair ranks #296,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pertes vs pets

Shared letters: epst. Private to "pertes": r. Private to "pets": -.

"pertes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perteseprtes · perets · perrtes · pertess · pertse · perttes · petres · ppertes
  • petsepts · pest · petss · petts · ppets · ptes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pertes" for "pets" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁt\ versus \pɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pertes" or "pets"?
"pertes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,485 in our French list, against #29,078 for "pets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pertes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pertes" and "pets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pets". 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 #296,438 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