balancentvsbalancesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: balancent is a verb, balances is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“balancent” is a verb and “balances” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,067
“balancent” frequency rank
#21,246
“balances” frequency rank
51313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature balancent balances
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe balancer. Pluriel de balance.

Same sound, different letters: balancent vs balances

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. balancent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against balances's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
balancent
8 ch
balances

Same sound, different spelling - balancent / balances

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: balancent and balances carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ba.lɑ̃s\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

balancent is recorded at frequency rank #30,067, classified as averb, pronounced \ba.lɑ̃s\. balances is at rank #21,246, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.lɑ̃s\.

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 51313, this pair ranks #155,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of balancent vs balances

Shared letters: abceln. Private to "balancent": t. Private to "balances": s.

"balancent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "balances" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • balancent ← ablancent · baalncent · balacnent · balanccent · balancennt · balancentt · balancetn · balancnet
  • balances ← ablances · baalnces · balacnes · balancces · balancess · balancse · balanecs · balannces

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "balancent" for "balances" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "balancent" is a verb and "balances" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "balancent" or "balances"?
"balances" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,246 in our French list, against #30,067 for "balancent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "balancent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "balances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "balancent" and "balances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balançait vs balancent". 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 #155,976 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list