“Pretenses” or “Pretences”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 4 prefer “pretenses” and 4 prefer “pretences”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	pretenses	pretences	Preference
United States	92	8	“pretenses”
United Kingdom	41	59	“pretences”
India	68	32	“pretenses”
Philippines	100	0	“pretenses”
Canada	68	32	“pretenses”
Australia	46	54	“pretences”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	0	100	“pretences”
New Zealand	0	100	“pretences”
Jamaica	0	0	Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago	0	0	Not enough data
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

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

“pretenses”

…York, obtaining property by false pretenses, felonious breach of trust and…
…war in Iraq under false pretenses.
The elements of false pretenses are:
…means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or…
…Grant (Sam Neill) under false pretenses to help them navigate the
…Smith) is hired under false pretenses to take Landfield into the…
…death of the subterfuge and pretenses."
…she approached him under fabricated pretenses.
…entry into Australia under false pretenses, confiscated their travel documents, and…
…not be entered under false pretenses and that doing so can…

“pretences”

…had been obtained under false pretences.
…is neither larceny nor false pretences, but an offence under the…
…inflections, beery aggro and dumb-fun pretences" and Jay Whalley's "philosophy student…
…Gayatri (Honey Rose) with false pretences, pretending to be falling in…
…of the crime of false pretences and involved obtaining property by…
False pretences as a concept in the…
…for obtaining food by false pretences.
…property or services by false pretences or fraudulent misrepresentation (other than…
Purchase of property by false pretences as to persons means or…
…and obtaining property by false pretences are classified as misdemeanours whereas…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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