Which to use
“pend” and “puent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,710
- “pend” frequency rank
- #28,309
- “puent” frequency rank
- 53019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pend | puent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de pendre. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de puer. |
Where the eye mixes pend and puent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pend and puent
A purely visual mix-up. pend (\pɑ̃\) and puent (\py\) 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 53019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pend is recorded at frequency rank #24,710, classified as averb, pronounced \pɑ̃\. puent is at rank #28,309, tagged as averb, pronounced \py\.
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 53019, this pair ranks #143,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pend vs puent
Shared letters: enp. Private to "pend": d. Private to "puent": tu.
"pend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "puent" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pend" for "puent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pend" vs "puent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pend" and "puent" 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 #143,641 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.