Which to use
“pensai” and “pensez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,594
- “pensai” frequency rank
- #1,782
- “pensez” frequency rank
- 45376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pensai | pensez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du passé simple de penser. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de penser. |
Same sound, different letters: pensai vs pensez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. pensai (CVCCVV) and pensez (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - pensai / pensez
This is the hard kind. pensai and pensez are pronounced identically (\pɑ̃.se\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45376, 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\. pensez is at rank #1,782, tagged as averb, 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 45376, this pair ranks #203,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pensai vs pensez
Shared letters: enps. Private to "pensai": ai. Private to "pensez": z.
"pensai" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pensez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pensai" and "pensez" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pensai" or "pensez" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "pensai" / "pensez". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "pensai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pensez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #203,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pensai" and "pensez" 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 #203,167 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.