Which to use
“dépensés” is a verb and “détenues” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,333
- “dépensés” frequency rank
- #19,822
- “détenues” frequency rank
- 49155
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépensés | détenues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel de dépenser. | Féminin pluriel de détenu. |
Where the eye mixes dépensés and détenues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dépensés (CVCVCCVC) and détenues (CVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: dépensés vs détenues
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépensés is \de.pɑ̃.se\ while détenues is \de.tə.ny\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépensés is recorded at frequency rank #29,333, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.se\. détenues is at rank #19,822, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.tə.ny\.
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 49155, this pair ranks #173,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépensés vs détenues
Shared letters: densé. Private to "dépensés": p. Private to "détenues": tu.
"dépensés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "détenues" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépensés" and "détenues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dépensés" or "détenues"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dépensés" and "détenues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "détenues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépensés" and "détenues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépasses vs dépensés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #173,010 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.