Which to use
“absences” is a noun and “absenter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,529
- “absences” frequency rank
- #30,447
- “absenter” frequency rank
- 46976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | absences | absenter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de absence. | S’éloigner de quelque lieu où l’on est habituellement, où la profession, les fonctions qu’on exerce veulent que l’on demeure, etc. |
Where the eye mixes absences and absenter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses absences with absenter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: absences is \ap.sɑ̃s\ while absenter is \ab.sɑ̃.te\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
absences is recorded at frequency rank #16,529, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.sɑ̃s\. absenter is at rank #30,447, tagged as averb, pronounced \ab.sɑ̃.te\.
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 46976, this pair ranks #190,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of absences vs absenter
Shared letters: abens. Private to "absences": c. Private to "absenter": rt.
"absences" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "absenter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "absences" for "absenter" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "absences" or "absenter" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "absences" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "absenter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "absences" and "absenter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "absenter vs arpenter". 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 #190,579 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.