Which to use
“présence” is a noun and “présents” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #745
- “présence” frequency rank
- #2,381
- “présents” frequency rank
- 3126
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | présence | présents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Existence d’une personne dans un lieu donné. | Masculin pluriel de présent. |
Where the eye mixes présence and présents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. présence (CCVCVCCV) and présents (CCVCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between présence and présents
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: présence is \pʁe.zɑ̃s\ while présents is \pʁe.zɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3126, 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\. présents is at rank #2,381, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.zɑ̃\.
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 3126, this pair ranks #434,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of présence vs présents
Shared letters: enprsé. Private to "présence": c. Private to "présents": t.
"présence" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV · "présents" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "présence" and "présents" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "présence" or "présents"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "présence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "présents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "présence" and "présents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "présence vs prestance". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #434,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.