penduevspenduleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,520
“pendue” frequency rank
#19,937
“pendule” frequency rank
52457
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pendue pendule
Definition Femme pendue. Tout système constitué d’un corps pesant, un balancier, oscillant autour d’un axe horizontal.

Where the eye mixes pendue and pendule

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pendue
7 ch
pendule

Look-alike desk: pendue vs pendule

A purely visual mix-up. pendue (\pɑ̃.dy\) and pendule (\pɑ̃.dyl\) 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 52457, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pendue is recorded at frequency rank #32,520, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.dy\. pendule is at rank #19,937, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.dyl\.

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 52457, this pair ranks #147,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pendue vs pendule

Shared letters: denpu. Private to "pendue": -. Private to "pendule": l.

"pendue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "pendule" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pendueepndue · pednue · penddue · pendeu · penndue · penude · pnedue · ppendue
  • penduleepndule · pednule · penddule · pendlue · penduel · pendulle · penndule · penudle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pendue" and "pendule" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.dy\ versus \pɑ̃.dyl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pendue" vs "pendule" - which ranks higher?
"pendule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,937 in our French list, against #32,520 for "pendue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pendue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pendule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pendue" and "pendule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pécule vs pendule". 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 #147,587 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list