Which to use
“pensées” is a noun and “perses” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,029
- “pensées” frequency rank
- #20,814
- “perses” frequency rank
- 23843
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pensées | perses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pensée. | Pluriel de perse. |
Where the eye mixes pensées and perses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pensées with perses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pensées is \pɑ̃.se\ while perses is \pɛʁs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pensées is recorded at frequency rank #3,029, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.se\. perses is at rank #20,814, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁs\.
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 23843, this pair ranks #350,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pensées vs perses
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pensées": né. Private to "perses": r.
"pensées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "perses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- perses ← eprses · peress · perrses · persess · persses · pesres · pperses · preses
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pensées" for "perses" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pensées" or "perses"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pensées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pensées" and "perses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perses vs pieuses". 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 #350,131 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.