persistantvspersistantesConfusable pair

Which to use

“persistant” and “persistantes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,028
“persistant” frequency rank
#29,077
“persistantes” frequency rank
51105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persistant persistantes
Definition Qui dure, qui résiste, qui demeure inchangé. Féminin pluriel de persistant.

Where the eye mixes persistant and persistantes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

10 ch
persistant
12 ch
persistantes

Why the eye confuses persistant with persistantes

A purely visual mix-up. persistant (\pɛʁ.si.stɑ̃\) and persistantes (\pɛʁ.sis.tɑ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “persistant” sits inside “persistantes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

persistant is recorded at frequency rank #22,028, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.si.stɑ̃\. persistantes is at rank #29,077, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.sis.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 51105, this pair ranks #157,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of persistant vs persistantes

Shared letters: aeinprst. Private to "persistant": -. Private to "persistantes": -.

"persistant" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "persistantes" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persistanteprsistant · perisstant · perrsistant · persisatnt · persisstant · persistannt · persistantt · persistatn
  • persistanteseprsistantes · perisstantes · perrsistantes · persisatntes · persisstantes · persistanets · persistanntes · persistantess

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "persistant" and "persistantes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.si.stɑ̃\ versus \pɛʁ.sis.tɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "persistant" or "persistantes"?
"persistant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,028 in our French list, against #29,077 for "persistantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "persistant" and "persistantes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "persistant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persistantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persistant" and "persistantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persistantes vs persistants". 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 #157,556 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