pennesvspintesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,955
“pennes” frequency rank
#44,096
“pintes” frequency rank
86051
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pennes pintes
Definition Pluriel de penne (plume…). Pluriel de pinte.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
pennes
6 ch
pintes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pennes (\pɛn\) and pintes (\pɛ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86051, 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\. pintes is at rank #44,096, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃t\.

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 86051, this pair ranks #10,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pennes vs pintes

Shared letters: enps. Private to "pennes": -. Private to "pintes": it.

"pennes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pintes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pennesepnnes · penens · penes · penness · pennse · pnenes · ppennes
  • pintesipntes · pinets · pinntes · pintess · pintse · pinttes · pitnes · pnites

Frequency comparison

pennes#41,955
pintes#44,096

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pennes" and "pintes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛn\ versus \pɛ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pennes" or "pintes"?
"pennes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,955 in our French list, against #44,096 for "pintes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pennes vs pintes

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list