Which to use
“peine” is a noun and “pend” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #483
- “peine” frequency rank
- #24,710
- “pend” frequency rank
- 25193
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peine | pend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Punition, sanction ou châtiment infligé(e) pour une faute commise, pour un acte jugé répréhensible ou coupable, et en particulier punition pour une infraction à la loi et prononcée par un jugement. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de pendre. |
Where the eye mixes peine and pend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: peine vs pend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peine is \pɛn\ while pend is \pɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peine is recorded at frequency rank #483, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛn\. pend is at rank #24,710, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɑ̃\.
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 25193, this pair ranks #342,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of peine vs pend
Shared letters: enp. Private to "peine": i. Private to "pend": d.
"peine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "peine" and "pend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "peine" or "pend"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "peine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peine" and "pend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pend vs pernod". 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 #342,273 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.