pennesvspennyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,955
“pennes” frequency rank
#22,026
“penny” frequency rank
63981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pennes penny
Definition Pluriel de penne (plume…). Pièce de monnaie au Royaume-Uni, qui a la valeur d’un centième d’une livre depuis la réforme monétaire de 1971, et qui avait la valeur d’un douzième d’un shilling, soit 1/240 d’une livre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pennes and penny apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
pennes
5 ch
penny

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pennes (\pɛn\) and penny (\pɛ.ni\) 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 63981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pennes is recorded at frequency rank #41,955, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛn\. penny is at rank #22,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ.ni\.

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 63981, this pair ranks #79,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pennes vs penny

Shared letters: enp. Private to "pennes": s. Private to "penny": y.

"pennes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "penny" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pennesepnnes · penens · penes · penness · pennse · pnenes · ppennes
  • pennyepnny · pennyy · peny · penyn · pneny · ppenny

Frequency comparison

pennes#41,955
penny#22,026

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pennes" and "penny" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛn\ versus \pɛ.ni\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pennes" or "penny"?
"penny" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,026 in our French list, against #41,955 for "pennes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pennes vs penny

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pennes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list