Which to use
“païenne” is a noun and “païennes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,092
- “païenne” frequency rank
- #45,223
- “païennes” frequency rank
- 81315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | païenne | païennes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne ne pratiquant pas la religion juive ou chrétienne. | Féminin pluriel de païen. |
Same sound, different letters: païenne vs païennes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. païenne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against païennes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: païenne vs païennes
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: païenne and païennes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pa.jɛn\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “païenne” sits inside “païennes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
païenne is recorded at frequency rank #36,092, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.jɛn\. païennes is at rank #45,223, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.jɛn\.
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 81315, this pair ranks #19,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of païenne vs païennes
Shared letters: aenpï. Private to "païenne": -. Private to "païennes": s.
"païenne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "païennes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "païenne" and "païennes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "païenne" vs "païennes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "païenne" / "païennes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "païenne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "païennes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "païenne" and "païennes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "païennes vs pennes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #19,010 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.