Which to use
“absence” and “agence” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,218
- “absence” frequency rank
- #1,502
- “agence” frequency rank
- 2720
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | absence | agence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Inexistence. | Organisme gérant des affaires pour le compte d'autrui. |
Where the eye mixes absence and agence
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. absence runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against agence's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses absence with agence
A purely visual mix-up. absence (\ap.sɑ̃s\) and agence (\a.ʒɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2720, 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\. agence is at rank #1,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ʒɑ̃s\.
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 2720, this pair ranks #435,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of absence vs agence
Shared letters: acen. Private to "absence": bs. Private to "agence": g.
"absence" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "agence" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "absence" and "agence" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "absence" vs "agence" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "absence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "absence" and "agence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "absence vs assène". 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 #435,602 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.