“Pretense” or “Pretence”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 5 prefer “pretense” and 5 prefer “pretence”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	pretense	pretence	Preference
United States	90	10	“pretense”
United Kingdom	36	64	“pretence”
India	35	65	“pretence”
Philippines	88	12	“pretense”
Canada	78	22	“pretense”
Australia	48	52	“pretence”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	34	66	“pretence”
New Zealand	45	55	“pretence”
Jamaica	100	0	“pretense”
Trinidad & Tobago	100	0	“pretense”
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“pretense”

…to approach Roselli under the pretense of representing international corporations that…
…relation hidden behind a false pretense of self-employment is in some…
…measurements of her under the pretense of ordering a school uniform…
Without pretense or sham, he was one…
…about at night under the pretense of being animatronics or hired
…for accepting money under the pretense of having a drunk driving…
…Douglases visit Scotland on the pretense of having been told they…
That is, false pretense is the acquisition of title…
…who detested shams, humbugs and pretense above all else."
…off to Switzerland under the pretense of getting her treatment for…

“pretence”

…but her acquiescence was a pretence, as she later joins the…
…protecting his fortress under the pretence that her loyal subjects in…
…and embraces it, making no pretence of the fact that they're…
Under pretence of saving the other children…
Paraśurāma's pretence of doubt is also over.
…which is an escutcheon of pretence with the arms of Lovering:…
Overall is an inescutcheon of pretence: Ermine, on a fesse sable…
The two struck the pretence of a friendship with her,…
…assemble or meet together under pretence of worshipping God, except it…
…but she keeps up a pretence of having a happy marriage.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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