Which to use
“intermittent” is an adjective and “intermittente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,559
- “intermittent” frequency rank
- #40,818
- “intermittente” frequency rank
- 72377
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intermittent | intermittente |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est discontinu et reprend par intervalles. | Femme qui ne travaille pas de façon continue. |
Where the eye mixes intermittent and intermittente
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. intermittent runs 12 letters (VCCVCCVCCVCC) against intermittente's 13 (VCCVCCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses intermittent with intermittente
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intermittent is \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.mi.tɑ̃\ while intermittente is \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.mi.tɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “intermittent” sits inside “intermittente”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intermittent is recorded at frequency rank #31,559, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.mi.tɑ̃\. intermittente is at rank #40,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.mi.tɑ̃t\.
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 72377, this pair ranks #44,227 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of intermittent vs intermittente
Shared letters: eimnrt. Private to "intermittent": -. Private to "intermittente": -.
"intermittent" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCC · "intermittente" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intermittent ← inetrmittent · inntermittent · intemrittent · interimttent · intermitent · intermitetnt · intermittennt · intermittentt
- intermittente ← inetrmittente · inntermittente · intemrittente · interimttente · intermitente · intermitetnte · intermittenet · intermittennte
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intermittent" and "intermittente" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "intermittent" or "intermittente" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intermittent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intermittente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,227 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intermittent" and "intermittente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intermittente vs intermittents". 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 #44,227 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.