amateur

\a.ma.tœʁ\

/\a.ma.tœʁ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“amateur” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,977. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,977
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui aime, aime à.

Corpus desk

Index FR-amateur · amateur · French

amateur · rank #3,977 · 9 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,977
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH acier

Nearest frequency peer: acier (-3 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 « amateur »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « amateur » 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).

amateur vs auteur
71% similar
amateur vs ampleur
71% similar
amateur vs amateurs
88% similar

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

Key facts for amateur
PropertyValue
Headwordamateur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\a.ma.tœʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,977
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « amateur »

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « acier » (#3,974), « appartenant » (#3,980), « abbé » (#3,973). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « amateur » est au #3,977. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around amateur (IPA \a.ma.tœʁ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,977 among 6,727 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for amateur, with forms such as "aamteur", "amaetur", and "amateru". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "auteur", "ampleur", "amateurs", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is amateur, spelled A-M-A-T-E-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui aime, aime à.
  2. 2
    Relatif à l’amateurisme.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dit autrement, le gueuleton bien arrosé du bon vivant, amateur de viande et de cigare, n’a pas son équivalent chez l’adepte de la graine germée et du tofu mariné à la sauce soja.
  2. Une footballeuse amatrice poitevine a écrit à la ministre déléguée chargée des Sports, Roxana Maracineanu.

Synonyms

amateuriste

This word in other languages

amateurish(English)aficionado(Español)amante(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aamteur
  • amaetur
  • amateru
  • amateurr
  • amatteur
  • amatuer
  • ammateur
  • amtaeur
  • maateur

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

aamteur2amaetur2amateru2amateurr1amatteur1amatuer2ammateur1amtaeur2
Edit distance from "amateur"

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 "amateur"?
"amateur" is spelled A-M-A-T-E-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \a.ma.tœʁ\.
What does "amateur" mean?
As an adjective, "amateur" means: Qui aime, aime à.
What words are commonly confused with "amateur"?
"amateur" is commonly confused with "auteur", "ampleur", "amateurs". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "amateur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "amateur" is \a.ma.tœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "amateur" come from?
"amateur" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "amateur", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

violent#3,970tempête#3,968définir#3,991session#3,962

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

tarifs9 variantssortes9 variantssavons9 variantsrépète9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list