peséevspèsentConfusable pair

Quick tell: pesée is a noun, pèsent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pesée” is a noun and “pèsent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,826
“pesée” frequency rank
#14,775
“pèsent” frequency rank
48601
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pesée pèsent
Definition Action de peser. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de peser.

Where the eye mixes pesée and pèsent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pesée runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against pèsent's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pesée
6 ch
pèsent

Why the eye confuses pesée with pèsent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pesée is \pə.ze\ while pèsent is \pɛz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pesée is recorded at frequency rank #33,826, classified as anoun, pronounced \pə.ze\. pèsent is at rank #14,775, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛz\.

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 48601, this pair ranks #177,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pesée vs pèsent

Shared letters: eps. Private to "pesée": é. Private to "pèsent": ntè.

"pesée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pèsent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pesée" for "pèsent" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pesée" is a noun and "pèsent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pesée" vs "pèsent" - which ranks higher?
"pèsent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,775 in our French list, against #33,826 for "pesée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pesée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pèsent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pesée" and "pèsent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pesée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #177,590 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