présencevsprésenterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#745
“présence” frequency rank
#1,400
“présenter” frequency rank
2145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature présence présenter
Definition Existence d’une personne dans un lieu donné. Montrer une première fois ; mettre un objet sous les yeux de quelqu'un.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set présence and présenter apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
présence
9 ch
présenter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: présence is \pʁe.zɑ̃s\ while présenter is \pʁe.zɑ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

présence is recorded at frequency rank #745, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.zɑ̃s\. présenter is at rank #1,400, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.zɑ̃.te\.

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 2145, this pair ranks #436,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of présence vs présenter

Shared letters: enprsé. Private to "présence": c. Private to "présenter": t.

"présence" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV  ·  "présenter" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

présence#745
présenter#1,400

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "présence" and "présenter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "présence" is a noun and "présenter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "présence" or "présenter"?
"présence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #745 in our French list, against #1,400 for "présenter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering présence vs présenter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “présence”; for a verb, it's “présenter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “présence” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list