existencevsexistentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: existence is a noun, existent is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“existence” is a noun and “existent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,732
“existence” frequency rank
#14,755
“existent” frequency rank
17487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature existence existent
Definition The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood. existing; having life or being, current; occurring now

Letter map: existence vs existent

Shared letters muted; letters that set existence and existent apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

9 ch
existence
8 ch
existent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: existence is anoun and existentanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

existence is recorded at frequency rank #2,732, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɛɡˈzɪs.təns/. existent is at rank #14,755, tagged as anadj.

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 17487, this pair ranks #451,116 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of existence vs existent

Shared letters: einstx. Private to "existence": c. Private to "existent": -.

"existence" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "existent" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • existenceeixstence · exisetnce · exisstence · existance · existecne · existencce · existenec · existennce
  • existenteixstent · exisetnt · exisstent · existennt · existentt · existetn · existnet · existtent

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "existence" and "existent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "existence" is a noun and "existent" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "existence" or "existent"?
"existence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,732 in our English list, against #14,755 for "existent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list