Which to use
“permanent” is an adjective and “permanente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,059
- “permanent” frequency rank
- #4,360
- “permanente” frequency rank
- 9419
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permanent | permanente |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est stable, immuable, qui dure sans changer, qui dure constamment. | Ondulation permanente, c’est-à-dire un traitement appliqué aux cheveux afin de les faire boucler ou friser de façon plus ou moins permanente. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set permanent and permanente apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
permanent and permanente form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “permanent” sits inside “permanente” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
permanent is recorded at frequency rank #5,059, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃\. permanente is at rank #4,360, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃t\.
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 9419, this pair ranks #416,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "permanent" and "permanente" be used interchangeably?
Remembering permanent vs permanente
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “permanent”; for a noun, it's “permanente”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “permanent” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable