Which to use
“passions” and “pensions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,736
- “passions” frequency rank
- #7,608
- “pensions” frequency rank
- 15344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passions | pensions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de passion. | Pluriel de pension. |
Where the eye mixes passions and pensions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. passions and pensions follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses passions with pensions
A purely visual mix-up. passions (\pa.sjɔ̃\) and pensions (\pɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passions is recorded at frequency rank #7,736, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.sjɔ̃\. pensions is at rank #7,608, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.
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 15344, this pair ranks #392,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passions vs pensions
Shared letters: inops. Private to "passions": a. Private to "pensions": e.
"passions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "pensions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passions" and "pensions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "passions" or "pensions" show up more?
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 "passions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pensions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passions" and "pensions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parions vs passions". 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 #392,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.