Which to use
“dépensée” and “dépensent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,400
- “dépensée” frequency rank
- #23,847
- “dépensent” frequency rank
- 67247
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépensée | dépensent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de dépenser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépenser. |
Where the eye mixes dépensée and dépensent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépensée runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVV) against dépensent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dépensée vs dépensent
A purely visual mix-up. dépensée (\de.pɑ̃.se\) and dépensent (\de.pɑ̃s\) 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 67247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépensée is recorded at frequency rank #43,400, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.se\. dépensent is at rank #23,847, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃s\.
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 67247, this pair ranks #64,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépensée vs dépensent
Shared letters: denpsé. Private to "dépensée": -. Private to "dépensent": t.
"dépensée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "dépensent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépensée" and "dépensent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dépensée" or "dépensent"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépensée" and "dépensent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépensée vs dispensée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #64,239 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.