pensésvspersesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,665
“pensés” frequency rank
#20,814
“perses” frequency rank
55479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pensés perses
Definition Masculin pluriel de pensé. Pluriel de perse.

Where the eye mixes pensés and perses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pensés
6 ch
perses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pensés (\pɑ̃.se\) and perses (\pɛʁs\) 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 55479, 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\. 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 55479, this pair ranks #127,199 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pensés vs perses

Shared letters: eps. Private to "pensés": . Private to "perses": r.

"pensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseseprses · peress · perrses · persess · persses · pesres · pperses · preses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pensés" and "perses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.se\ versus \pɛʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pensés" or "perses"?
"perses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,814 in our French list, against #34,665 for "pensés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list