Which to use
“puissance” is a noun and “puissante” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,188
- “puissance” frequency rank
- #4,608
- “puissante” frequency rank
- 5796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | puissance | puissante |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pouvoir d’imposer son autorité. | Féminin singulier de puissant. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set puissance and puissante apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: puissance is \pɥi.sɑ̃s\ while puissante is \pɥi.sɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “puissance” becomes t in “puissante”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
puissance is recorded at frequency rank #1,188, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɥi.sɑ̃s\. puissante is at rank #4,608, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɥi.sɑ̃t\.
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 5796, this pair ranks #428,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of puissance vs puissante
Shared letters: aeinpsu. Private to "puissance": c. Private to "puissante": t.
"puissance" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV · "puissante" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "puissance" and "puissante" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "puissance" or "puissante"?
Remembering puissance vs puissante
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “puissance”; for an adjective, it's “puissante”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “puissance” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable