attente
\a.tɑ̃t\
The verdict
“attente” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,461 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,461
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - État de la personne qui attend, ou temps pendant lequel on attend.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | attente |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \a.tɑ̃t\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,461 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “attente” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for attente is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \a.tɑ̃t\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,461 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for attente, with forms such as "atente", "atetnte", and "attenet". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "atteste", "atténue", "attentes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is attente, spelled A-T-T-E-N-T-E.
Definition
- 1État de la personne qui attend, ou temps pendant lequel on attend.
- 2Espérance, opinion qu’on a conçue de quelqu’un, de quelque chose.
- 3Chose qu’on ne regarde que comme un commencement.
- 4Action de compter sur quelqu’un, sur quelque chose, une espérance, une prévision (répondre à l’attente de ses amis, contre toute attente).
- 5État recherché par un individu qui entretient ainsi un plaisir qui va cesser au moment où l’objet de l’attente sera réalisé.
- 6Standards, besoins, désirs des clients d’une entreprise, des usagers d’une administration, etc, ; ce qu’ils attendent ; ce à quoi ils s’attendent.
- 7Ellipse de armature d’attente.
- 8Pierre disposée en saillie d’un mur en attente de faire la liaison avec une future construction, elle constitue un arrachement.
- 9Insigne porté sur la couture de l’épaule de la veste.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atente,atetnte,attenet,attennte,attentte,attetne,attnete,tatente
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of attente - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “attente”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-T-T-E-N-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a.tɑ̃t\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “atteste” - see the side-by-side comparison. attente vs atteste
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.