Which to use
“pains” and “panse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,919
- “pains” frequency rank
- #36,987
- “panse” frequency rank
- 47906
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pains | panse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pain. | Ventre. |
Where the eye mixes pains and panse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pains (CVVCC) and panse (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: pains vs panse
A purely visual mix-up. pains (\pɛ̃\) and panse (\pɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pains is recorded at frequency rank #10,919, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃\. panse is at rank #36,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced \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 47906, this pair ranks #183,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pains vs panse
Shared letters: anps. Private to "pains": i. Private to "panse": e.
"pains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "panse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pains" for "panse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pains" vs "panse" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "panse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pains" and "panse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panse vs Panzer". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #183,189 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.