Absense or absence?
Did you mean absence? Here's the right spelling and how to remember it.
Incorrect
absense
Correct
absence
Correct spelling: absence. Misspelling: absense.
letters the misspelling gets wrong or leaves out letters that shouldn't be there
Memory tip
Absence starts with an S sound spelled S and ends with one spelled C: ab-S-en-C-e.
Why people write “absense”
The misspelling “absense” is only one letter off: it uses S in place of C; the two letters can sound alike here.
Spell-checkers catch the mistake in a document, but not in a handwritten note, a text message or a word game. Writing the word out a few times while saying the tricky part aloud is the quickest way to make absence automatic.
Other misspellings of “absence”
People also write “absance”. Here is where each one goes wrong.
“absance”
Correct spelling: absence. Misspelling: absance.
letters the misspelling gets wrong or leaves out letters that shouldn't be there
The endings -ence and -ance sound identical in speech; this word takes -ence.
What does “absence” mean?
absence noun
- the state of being absent
“he was surprised by the absence of any explanation”
- failure to be present
- the time interval during which something or somebody is away
“he visited during my absence”
- the occurrence of an abrupt, transient loss or impairment of consciousness (which is not subsequently remembered), sometimes with light twitching, fluttering eyelids, etc.; common in petit mal epilepsy
Synonyms:
Definitions from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Full dictionary entry
“Absence” in a sentence
- Her absence from the meeting was noticed by everyone.
- He was surprised by the absence of any explanation.
- He visited during my absence.
Is “absence” a playable word?
11 points in Scrabble · 14 in Words With Friends
- Scrabble (US)
- Scrabble (UK)
- Words With Friends
“absense” is not accepted in any of these games. See every word you can make from ABSENCE.