pensésvspercésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,665
“pensés” frequency rank
#34,666
“percés” frequency rank
69331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pensés percés
Definition Masculin pluriel de pensé. Masculin pluriel de percé.

Where the eye mixes pensés and percés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pensés and percés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pensés
6 ch
percés

Look-alike desk: pensés vs percés

A purely visual mix-up. pensés (\pɑ̃.se\) and percés (\pɛʁ.se\) 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 69331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pensés is recorded at frequency rank #34,665, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɑ̃.se\. percés is at rank #34,666, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.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 69331, this pair ranks #55,555 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pensés vs percés

Shared letters: epsé. Private to "pensés": n. Private to "percés": cr.

"pensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "percés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pensés" and "percés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.se\ versus \pɛʁ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pensés" vs "percés" - which ranks higher?
"pensés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,665 in our French list, against #34,666 for "percés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pensés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "percés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,555 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pensés" and "percés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pensés vs pieuses". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,555 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list