penchés vs percés, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“penchés” and “percés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,095
“penchés” frequency rank: #34,666
“percés” frequency rank: 70761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	penchés	percés
Definition	Masculin pluriel de penché.	Masculin pluriel de percé.

Where the eye mixes penchés and percés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. penchés runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against percés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch

penchés

6 ch

percés

Visual trap between penchés and percés

A purely visual mix-up. penchés (\pɑ̃.ʃe\) and percés (\pɛʁ.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

penchés is recorded at frequency rank #36,095, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɑ̃.ʃe\. percés is at rank #34,666, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\.

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 70761, this pair ranks #50,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of penchés vs percés

Shared letters: cepsé. Private to "penchés": hn. Private to "percés": r.

"penchés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "penchés" and "percés" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.ʃe\ versus \pɛʁ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary French text, does "penchés" or "percés" show up more?

"percés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,666 in our French list, against #36,095 for "penchés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "penchés" and "percés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "penchés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "percés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #50,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"penchés" and "percés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pencha vs penchés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #50,126 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.