Which to use
“dépense” and “dépose” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,855
- “dépense” frequency rank
- #7,431
- “dépose” frequency rank
- 12286
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépense | dépose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | L’argent qu’on emploie à quelque chose que ce puisse être. | Action d’enlever ce qui était posé. |
Where the eye mixes dépense and dépose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dépense runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against dépose's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dépense vs dépose
A purely visual mix-up. dépense (\de.pɑ̃s\) and dépose (\de.poz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépense is recorded at frequency rank #4,855, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɑ̃s\. dépose is at rank #7,431, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.poz\.
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 12286, this pair ranks #405,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépense vs dépose
Shared letters: depsé. Private to "dépense": n. Private to "dépose": o.
"dépense" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dépose" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépense" and "dépose" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dépense" or "dépose" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépense" and "dépose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépose vs déposera". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #405,871 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.