Which to use
“peins” is a verb and “pètes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,098
- “peins” frequency rank
- #48,737
- “pètes” frequency rank
- 96835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peins | pètes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de peindre. | Pluriel de pète. |
Where the eye mixes peins and pètes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. peins (CVVCC) and pètes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: peins vs pètes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peins is \pɛ̃\ while pètes is \pɛt\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peins is recorded at frequency rank #48,098, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ̃\. pètes is at rank #48,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛt\.
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 96835, this pair ranks #551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peins vs pètes
Shared letters: eps. Private to "peins": in. Private to "pètes": tè.
"peins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "pètes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- peins ← epins · peinns · peinss · peisn · piens · ppeins
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "peins" and "pètes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "peins" or "pètes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "peins" and "pètes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peins" and "pètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pètes". 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 #551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.