Which to use
“pétri” is a verb and “pétrin” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,945
- “pétri” frequency rank
- #34,706
- “pétrin” frequency rank
- 75651
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pétri | pétrin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe pétrir. | Coffre ou machine dans lesquels on pétrit le pain. |
Where the eye mixes pétri and pétrin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pétri runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against pétrin's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pétri vs pétrin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pétri is \pe.tʁi\ while pétrin is \pe.tʁɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “pétri” sits inside “pétrin”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pétri is recorded at frequency rank #40,945, classified as averb, pronounced \pe.tʁi\. pétrin is at rank #34,706, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.tʁɛ̃\.
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 75651, this pair ranks #33,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pétri vs pétrin
Shared letters: iprté. Private to "pétri": -. Private to "pétrin": n.
"pétri" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pétrin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pétri" for "pétrin" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pétri" vs "pétrin" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pétri" and "pétrin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pétri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pétrin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pétri" and "pétrin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pètes vs pétri". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #33,426 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.