renoncevsrenoncerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,378
“renonce” frequency rank
#5,495
“renoncer” frequency rank
14873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature renonce renoncer
Definition Action de ne pas fournir de la couleur demandée ; état de celui qui ne peut pas fournir d’une couleur. Se désister de quelque chose, soit par acte exprès, soit autrement.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
renonce
8 ch
renoncer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: renonce is \ʁə.nɔ̃s\ while renoncer is \ʁə.nɔ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “renonce” sits inside “renoncer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

renonce is recorded at frequency rank #9,378, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.nɔ̃s\. renoncer is at rank #5,495, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.nɔ̃.se\.

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 14873, this pair ranks #394,845 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of renonce vs renoncer

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "renonce": -. Private to "renoncer": -.

"renonce" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "renoncer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renonceernonce · rennoce · rennonce · renocne · renoncce · renonec · renonnce · reonnce
  • renoncerernoncer · rennocer · rennoncer · renocner · renonccer · renoncerr · renoncre · renonecr

Frequency comparison

renonce#9,378
renoncer#5,495

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "renonce" and "renoncer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "renonce" is a noun and "renoncer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "renonce" or "renoncer"?
"renoncer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,495 in our French list, against #9,378 for "renonce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering renonce vs renoncer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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