pensionnaire vs pensionnaires

Which to use

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

#21,419
“pensionnaire” frequency rank: #20,811
“pensionnaires” frequency rank: 42230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pensionnaire	pensionnaires
Definition	Celui ou celle qui paie pension.	Pluriel de pensionnaire.

Same sound, different letters: pensionnaire vs pensionnaires

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 12 letters. pensionnaire runs 12 letters (CVCCVVCCVVCV) against pensionnaires's 13 (CVCCVVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch

pensionnaire

13 ch

pensionnaires

Ear matches; page differs - pensionnaire and pensionnaires

This is the hard kind. pensionnaire and pensionnaires are pronounced identically (\pɑ̃.sjɔ.nɛʁ\) 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) - “pensionnaire” sits inside “pensionnaires”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pensionnaire is recorded at frequency rank #21,419, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.sjɔ.nɛʁ\. pensionnaires is at rank #20,811, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃.sjɔ.nɛʁ\.

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 42230, this pair ranks #227,199 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pensionnaire vs pensionnaires

Shared letters: aeinoprs. Private to "pensionnaire": -. Private to "pensionnaires": -.

"pensionnaire" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVVCV · "pensionnaires" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

pensionnaire ← epnsionnaire · penisonnaire · pennsionnaire · pensinonaire · pensionaire · pensionanire · pensionnaier · pensionnairre
pensionnaires ← epnsionnaires · penisonnaires · pennsionnaires · pensinonaires · pensionaires · pensionanires · pensionnaiers · pensionnairess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pensionnaire" for "pensionnaires" ever safe?

No. They are pronounced the same (\pɑ̃.sjɔ.nɛʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Frequency check: "pensionnaire" vs "pensionnaires" - which ranks higher?

"pensionnaires" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,811 in our French list, against #21,419 for "pensionnaire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"pensionnaire" and "pensionnaires" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

Full dictionary entry for "pensionnaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "pensionnaires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #227,199 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
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 #227,199 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.