pensum
\pɛ̃.sɔm\
The verdict
“pensum” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tâche, devoir supplémentaire qu’on impose à un écolier pour le punir, punition.
Corpus desk
Index FR-pensum · pensum · French
pensum · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pensum |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pɛ̃.sɔm\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « pensum » en français
Rare enough to double-check
pensum is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɛ̃.sɔm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pensum, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is pensum, spelled P-E-N-S-U-M.
Definition
- 1Tâche, devoir supplémentaire qu’on impose à un écolier pour le punir, punition.
- 2Travail intellectuel difficile et pénible, corvée.
- 3Texte ennuyeux.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pensum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le pensum, punition dont le genre varie selon les coutumes de chaque collége, consistait à Vendôme en un certain nombre de lignes copiées pendant les heures de récréation.
Si Maxence était mis en retenue et accablé de pensums, il se prétendait atteint dans sa considération et déclarait que son fils le déshonorait.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.