puissancesvspuissantesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: puissances is a noun, puissantes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“puissances” is a noun and “puissantes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,337
“puissances” frequency rank
#10,216
“puissantes” frequency rank
16553
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature puissances puissantes
Definition Pluriel de puissance. Féminin pluriel de puissant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set puissances and puissantes apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
puissances
10 ch
puissantes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: puissances is \pɥi.sɑ̃s\ while puissantes is \pɥi.sɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “puissances” becomes t in “puissantes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

puissances is recorded at frequency rank #6,337, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɥi.sɑ̃s\. puissantes is at rank #10,216, 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 16553, this pair ranks #387,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of puissances vs puissantes

Shared letters: aeinpsu. Private to "puissances": c. Private to "puissantes": t.

"puissances" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC  ·  "puissantes" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • puissancespiussances · ppuissances · puisances · puisasnces · puissacnes · puissancces · puissancess · puissancse
  • puissantespiussantes · ppuissantes · puisantes · puisasntes · puissanets · puissanntes · puissantess · puissantse

Frequency comparison

puissances#6,337
puissantes#10,216

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "puissances" and "puissantes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "puissances" is a noun and "puissantes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "puissances" or "puissantes"?
"puissances" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,337 in our French list, against #10,216 for "puissantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering puissances vs puissantes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “puissances”; for an adjective, it's “puissantes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “puissances” 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