English homophones
pretence/pretense
"pretense" (#28,675 written frequency) beats "pretence" (#40,401) in this 2-word /ˈpɹiːtɛns/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈpɹiːtɛns/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "pretense" leads at #28,675, with "pretence" trailing at #40,401.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "preten" then splits - "pretence" (8 letters) vs "pretense" (8).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across pretence, pretense: enprt. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
pretence
8 letters · 3 vowels · shape CCVCVCCV
Inventory cenprt · private c
pretense
8 letters · 3 vowels · shape CCVCVCCV
Inventory enprst · private s
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "pretence" when you mean: British standard spelling of pretense.
- Write "pretense" when you mean: The action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (pretence, pretense). Here's where to go from here.
- "pretense" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #28,675 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: parlor · parlour. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "pretence, pretense" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.