Which to use
“peur” is a noun and “pur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #467
- “peur” frequency rank
- #3,034
- “pur” frequency rank
- 3501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peur | pur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Crainte, frayeur, émotion pénible produite par l’idée ou la vue d’un danger. | Qui est sans mélange, en parlant d’un produit, d’une émotion. |
Where the eye mixes peur and pur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses peur with pur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peur is \pœʁ\ while pur is \pyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peur is recorded at frequency rank #467, classified as anoun, pronounced \pœʁ\. pur is at rank #3,034, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pyʁ\.
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 3501, this pair ranks #433,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of peur vs pur
Shared letters: pru. Private to "peur": e. Private to "pur": -.
"peur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- peur ← epur · peru · peurr · ppeur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peur" for "pur" ever safe?
Frequency check: "peur" vs "pur" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "peur" and "pur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peur" and "pur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pur". 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 #433,872 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.