peinsvspisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: peins is a verb, pis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“peins” is a verb and “pis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,098
“peins” frequency rank
#3,350
“pis” frequency rank
51448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peins pis
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de peindre. Mamelle de bête laitière (vache, brebis, etc.).

Where the eye mixes peins and pis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
peins
3 ch
pis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peins is \pɛ̃\ while pis is \pi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51448, 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\. pis is at rank #3,350, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi\.

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 51448, this pair ranks #154,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peins vs pis

Shared letters: ips. Private to "peins": en. Private to "pis": -.

"peins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "pis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peinsepins · peinns · peinss · peisn · piens · ppeins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peins" and "pis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "peins" is a verb and "pis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "peins" or "pis"?
"pis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,350 in our French list, against #48,098 for "peins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "peins" and "pis". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peins" and "pis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peins 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list