Which to use
“pensai” is a verb and “pensés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,594
- “pensai” frequency rank
- #34,665
- “pensés” frequency rank
- 78259
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pensai | pensés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du passé simple de penser. | Masculin pluriel de pensé. |
Same sound, different letters: pensai vs pensés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. pensai (CVCCVV) and pensés (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - pensai / pensés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: pensai and pensés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɑ̃.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pensai is recorded at frequency rank #43,594, classified as averb, pronounced \pɑ̃.se\. pensés is at rank #34,665, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɑ̃.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 78259, this pair ranks #26,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pensai vs pensés
Shared letters: enps. Private to "pensai": ai. Private to "pensés": é.
"pensai" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pensai ← epnsai · penasi · pennsai · pensia · penssai · pesnai · pnesai · ppensai
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pensai" for "pensés" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pensai" or "pensés" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "pensai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pensés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pensai" and "pensés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pendait vs pensai". 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 #26,224 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.