Which to use
“vacances” is a noun and “vacante” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,050
- “vacances” frequency rank
- #37,597
- “vacante” frequency rank
- 38647
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vacances | vacante |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de repos, durant un certain nombre de jours, accordée à des employés dans une entreprise, à des élèves dans une école, etc. | Féminin singulier de vacant. |
Where the eye mixes vacances and vacante
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vacances runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against vacante's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vacances with vacante
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacances is \va.kɑ̃s\ while vacante is \va.kɑ̃t\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vacances is recorded at frequency rank #1,050, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.kɑ̃s\. vacante is at rank #37,597, tagged as anadj, pronounced \va.kɑ̃t\.
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 38647, this pair ranks #253,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vacances vs vacante
Shared letters: acenv. Private to "vacances": s. Private to "vacante": t.
"vacances" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "vacante" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vacances" for "vacante" ever safe?
Which is more common, "vacances" or "vacante"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vacances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vacante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vacances" and "vacante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacante vs vacuité". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #253,814 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.