Which to use
“pension” and “pensions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,165
- “pension” frequency rank
- #7,608
- “pensions” frequency rank
- 12773
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pension | pensions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Somme d’argent que l’on donne pour être logé, nourri. | Pluriel de pension. |
Same sound, different letters: pension vs pensions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. pension runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against pensions's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - pension / pensions
This is the hard kind. pension and pensions are pronounced identically (\pɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “pension” sits inside “pensions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pension is recorded at frequency rank #5,165, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.sjɔ̃\. pensions is at rank #7,608, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.
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 12773, this pair ranks #403,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pension vs pensions
Shared letters: einops. Private to "pension": -. Private to "pensions": -.
"pension" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "pensions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pension" and "pensions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pension" or "pensions" show up more?
What to do next
"pension" and "pensions" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pension" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pensions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pension" and "pensions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pension vs pinson". 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 #403,833 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.