Which to use
“dépensent” and “dépensés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,847
- “dépensent” frequency rank
- #29,333
- “dépensés” frequency rank
- 53180
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépensent | dépensés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépenser. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de dépenser. |
Where the eye mixes dépensent and dépensés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dépensent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against dépensés's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dépensent and dépensés
A purely visual mix-up. dépensent (\de.pɑ̃s\) and dépensés (\de.pɑ̃.se\) 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 53180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépensent is recorded at frequency rank #23,847, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃s\. dépensés is at rank #29,333, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.se\.
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 53180, this pair ranks #142,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépensent vs dépensés
Shared letters: denpsé. Private to "dépensent": t. Private to "dépensés": -.
"dépensent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "dépensés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépensent" and "dépensés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dépensent" or "dépensés"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #142,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépensent" and "dépensés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépasses vs dépensés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #142,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.