Which to use
“absence” is a noun and “absents” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,218
- “absence” frequency rank
- #10,266
- “absents” frequency rank
- 11484
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | absence | absents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Inexistence. | Masculin pluriel de absent. |
Where the eye mixes absence and absents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. absence (VCCVCCV) and absents (VCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: absence vs absents
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: absence is \ap.sɑ̃s\ while absents is \ap.sɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
absence is recorded at frequency rank #1,218, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.sɑ̃s\. absents is at rank #10,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ap.sɑ̃\.
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 11484, this pair ranks #408,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of absence vs absents
Shared letters: abens. Private to "absence": c. Private to "absents": t.
"absence" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "absents" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "absence" and "absents" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "absence" or "absents"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "absence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "absents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "absence" and "absents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "absents vs argents". Nearby pair
- 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 #408,974 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.