Which to use
“abstention” and “abstentions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,982
- “abstention” frequency rank
- #30,040
- “abstentions” frequency rank
- 41022
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abstention | abstentions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de s’abstenir, non-exercice d’un droit, refus de prendre part, d’intervenir. | Pluriel de abstention. |
Same sound, different letters: abstention vs abstentions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. abstention runs 10 letters (VCCCVCCVVC) against abstentions's 11 (VCCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - abstention / abstentions
This is the hard kind. abstention and abstentions are pronounced identically (\ap.stɑ̃.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “abstention” sits inside “abstentions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abstention is recorded at frequency rank #10,982, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.stɑ̃.sjɔ̃\. abstentions is at rank #30,040, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ap.stɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.
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 41022, this pair ranks #236,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abstention vs abstentions
Shared letters: abeinost. Private to "abstention": -. Private to "abstentions": -.
"abstention" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVC · "abstentions" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- abstention ← abbstention · absetntion · absstention · absteniton · abstenntion · abstentino · abstentionn · abstentoin
- abstentions ← abbstentions · absetntions · absstentions · abstenitons · abstenntions · abstentinos · abstentionns · abstentionss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abstention" for "abstentions" ever safe?
Frequency check: "abstention" vs "abstentions" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "abstention" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abstentions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abstention" and "abstentions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abstentions vs attentions". 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 #236,144 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.