pence
/pɛns/
"pence" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pence” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,932 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,932
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of penny (the subunit of the pound sterling or Irish pound).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɛns/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #11,932 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pence” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pence is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɛns/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,932 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of penny (the subunit of the pound sterling or Irish pound).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pence, with forms such as "epnce", "pance", and "pecne". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PNC", "Pete", "pine", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 14th century contraction of penies (“pennies”), collective plural of penny. The correct English form is pence, spelled P-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1plural of penny (the subunit of the pound sterling or Irish pound).
Etymology
14th century contraction of penies (“pennies”), collective plural of penny.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: epnce,pance,pecne,pencce,penec,pennce,pnece,ppence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pence - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pence"?
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Using “pence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɛns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “PNC” - see the side-by-side comparison. pence vs PNC
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.