alterner

\al.tɛʁ.ne\

/\al.tɛʁ.ne\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“alterner” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #30,458. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,458
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faire successivement et tour à tour une même chose en parlant de deux personnes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-alterner · alterner · French

alterner · rank #30,458 · 12 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,458
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH ancestral

Nearest frequency peer: ancestral (+1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « alterner »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « alterner » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

alterner vs altéré
50% similar
alterner vs alerter
75% similar
alterner vs altérer
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for alterner
PropertyValue
Headwordalterner
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\al.tɛʁ.ne\
Letters8
Frequency rank#30,458
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « alterner »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.alternerse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ancestral » (#30,459), « angine » (#30,461), « adonne » (#30,454). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « alterner » est au #30,458. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around alterner (IPA \al.tɛʁ.ne\), averb. Corpus frequency is #30,458 among 6,727 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for alterner, with forms such as "aletrner", "allterner", and "altenrer". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "altéré", "alerter", "altérer", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is alterner, spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Faire successivement et tour à tour une même chose en parlant de deux personnes.
  2. 2
    Se succéder tour à tour et avec régularité, pour des objets.
  3. 3
    Faire produire tour à tour à un champ des céréales et des fourrages.
  4. 4
    Utiliser tour à tour dans une même saison ou sur plusieurs années des phytosanitaires différents pour éviter l'apparition de parasites résistants.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how alterner appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ces deux fonctionnaires alternent tous les mois, ils exercent l’un après l’autre, de mois en mois.
  2. Le mois de mai fut assez pluvieux. La neige et la pluie alternaient.

This word in other languages

alternate(English)alternar(Español)alternieren(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aletrner
  • allterner
  • altenrer
  • alterenr
  • alternerr
  • alternner
  • alternre
  • alterrner
  • altrener
  • altterner
  • atlerner
  • laterner

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alterner - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

aletrner2allterner1altenrer2alterenr2alternerr1alternner1alternre2alterrner1
Edit distance from "alterner"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "alterner"?
"alterner" is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \al.tɛʁ.ne\.
What does "alterner" mean?
As a verb, "alterner" means: Faire successivement et tour à tour une même chose en parlant de deux personnes.
What words are commonly confused with "alterner"?
"alterner" is commonly confused with "altéré", "alerter", "altérer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "alterner"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alterner" is \al.tɛʁ.ne\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "alterner" come from?
"alterner" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "alterner", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Antigone#30,465abusives#30,448absenter#30,447arbitrer#30,470

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

approchez12 variantsapprécies12 variantsépithète12 variantsvirulent12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list