séance
/ˈseɪˌɑns/
"seance" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“séance” is uncommon English (frequency #66,328 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,328
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits of dead people, usually led by a medium.
Corpus desk
Index EN-seance · séance · English
séance · rank #66,328 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,328
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH swindling
Nearest frequency peer: swindling (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “séance”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- supermax
supermax
33,676 corpus weight
- swaggering
swaggering
33,675 corpus weight
- swindling
swindling
33,674 corpus weight
- séance
séance
33,673 corpus weight
- T9
T9
33,671 corpus weight
- tahini
tahini
33,670 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “séance” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | séance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈseɪˌɑns/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #66,328 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “séance” in English
Rare enough to double-check
séance is uncommon English at frequency #66,328 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈseɪˌɑns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for séance, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French séance (“sitting, session”). The correct English form is séance, spelled S-É-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1A ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits of dead people, usually led by a medium.
- 2The sitting of an assembly to discuss a matter.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how séance appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[B]ut only too often séances degenerate into pure sorcery or necromancy, attracting all kinds of undeveloped and earth-bound entities.
Etymology
Borrowed from French séance (“sitting, session”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "séance", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).