penser

\pɑ̃.se\

/\pɑ̃.se\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“penser” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #694. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#694
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Exercer l’activité de l’esprit ; accomplir quelque opération de l’intelligence ; concevoir ; imaginer ; réfléchir.

Corpus desk

Index FR-penser · penser · French

penser · rank #694 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #694
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH particulier

Nearest frequency peer: particulier (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « penser »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « penser » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

penser vs poser
67% similar
penser vs pente
67% similar
penser vs péter
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for penser
PropertyValue
Headwordpenser
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɑ̃.se\
Letters6
Frequency rank#694
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « penser »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).penserse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « particulier » (#693), « poste » (#695), « national » (#692). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « penser » est au #694. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around penser (IPA \pɑ̃.se\), averb. Corpus frequency is #694 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for penser, with forms such as "epnser", "penesr", and "pennser". 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, "poser", "pente", "péter", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is penser, spelled P-E-N-S-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Exercer l’activité de l’esprit ; accomplir quelque opération de l’intelligence ; concevoir ; imaginer ; réfléchir.
  2. 2
    Croire.
  3. 3
    Estimer.
  4. 4
    Avoir une opinion.
  5. 5
    Avoir des tendances intellectuelles, des préférences d’esprit et de goût.
  6. 6
    Avoir dans l’esprit.
  7. 7
    Avoir présent à l’esprit ; avoir le cœur occupé de.
  8. 8
    Se souvenir.
  9. 9
    Prévoir et pourvoir.
  10. 10
    Vouloir, former un dessein, avoir une intention.
  11. 11
    Être sur le point de ; faillir.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how penser appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Je suis incapable de rassembler deux idées ; votre vue m’a ébloui. Je ne pense plus, j’admire.
  2. Vous n’êtes pas venu ici pour penser, mais pour faire les gestes qu’on vous commandera d’exécuter… Nous n’avons pas besoin d’imaginatifs dans notre usine. C’est de chimpanzés dont nous avons besoin…

Synonyms

cogiter

This word in other languages

think(English)pensar(Español)denken(Deutsch)pensar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epnser
  • penesr
  • pennser
  • penserr
  • pensre
  • pensser
  • pesner
  • pneser
  • ppenser

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of penser - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

epnser2penesr2pennser1penserr1pensre2pensser1pesner2pneser2
Edit distance from "penser"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "penser"?
"penser" is spelled P-E-N-S-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pɑ̃.se\.
What does "penser" mean?
As a verb, "penser" means: Exercer l’activité de l’esprit ; accomplir quelque opération de l’intelligence ; concevoir ; imaginer ; réfléchir.
What words are commonly confused with "penser"?
"penser" is commonly confused with "poser", "pente", "péter". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "penser"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "penser" is \pɑ̃.se\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "penser" come from?
"penser" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "penser", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

montre#691lequel#690réseau#699celles#704

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

données9 variantschacun9 variantsétudes9 variantsfaisait9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list