Which to use
“dépenser” and “dépensés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,609
- “dépenser” frequency rank
- #29,333
- “dépensés” frequency rank
- 35942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépenser | dépensés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Employer telle ou telle somme à l’achat de telle ou telle chose. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de dépenser. |
Same sound, different letters: dépenser vs dépensés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. dépenser and dépensés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - dépenser and dépensés
This is the hard kind. dépenser and dépensés are pronounced identically (\de.pɑ̃.se\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépenser is recorded at frequency rank #6,609, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.se\. 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 35942, this pair ranks #273,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépenser vs dépensés
Shared letters: denpsé. Private to "dépenser": r. Private to "dépensés": -.
"dépenser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dépensés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépenser" and "dépensés" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "dépenser" or "dépensés" show up more?
What to do next
"dépenser" and "dépensés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépenser" 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 #273,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépenser" and "dépensés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépasses vs dépensés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #273,083 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.