pensésvspersosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,665
“pensés” frequency rank
#18,557
“persos” frequency rank
53222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pensés persos
Definition Masculin pluriel de pensé. Pluriel de perso.

Where the eye mixes pensés and persos

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

6 ch
pensés
6 ch
persos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pensés (\pɑ̃.se\) and persos (\pɛʁ.so\) 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 53222, 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\. persos is at rank #18,557, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.so\.

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 53222, this pair ranks #142,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pensés vs persos

Shared letters: eps. Private to "pensés": . Private to "persos": or.

"pensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "persos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persoseprsos · peross · perrsos · persoss · perssos · pesros · ppersos · presos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pensés" and "persos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃.se\ versus \pɛʁ.so\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pensés" or "persos"?
"persos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,557 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