Which to use
“permanence” and “permanences” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,597
- “permanence” frequency rank
- #43,596
- “permanences” frequency rank
- 48193
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permanence | permanences |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Durée constante de quelque chose, état de ce qui est permanent. | Pluriel de permanence. |
Same sound, different letters: permanence vs permanences
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. permanence runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCCV) against permanences's 11 (CVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: permanence vs permanences
This is the hard kind. permanence and permanences are pronounced identically (\pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃s\) 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) - “permanence” sits inside “permanences”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
permanence is recorded at frequency rank #4,597, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃s\. permanences is at rank #43,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃s\.
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 48193, this pair ranks #180,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of permanence vs permanences
Shared letters: acemnpr. Private to "permanence": -. Private to "permanences": s.
"permanence" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV · "permanences" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- permanence ← eprmanence · pemranence · peramnence · permaennce · permanecne · permanencce · permanenec · permanennce
- permanences ← eprmanences · pemranences · peramnences · permaennces · permanecnes · permanencces · permanencess · permanencse
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "permanence" and "permanences" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "permanence" or "permanences" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "permanence" / "permanences". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "permanence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permanences" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "permanence" and "permanences" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permanences vs permanents". 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 #180,882 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.