avant
\a.vɑ̃\
The verdict
“avant” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #111 in French word frequency and used as a preposition.
- #111
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Marque la priorité ou l’antériorité de temps.
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 | avant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Preposition |
| IPA | \a.vɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #111 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “avant” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for avant is 5 letters long, classified as a preposition, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \a.vɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #111 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for avant, with forms such as "aavnt", "avannt", and "avantt". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "avon", "aven", "avons", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is avant, spelled A-V-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Marque la priorité ou l’antériorité de temps.
- 2Marque la priorité d’ordre et de situation.
- 3Principalement, préférablement à toute autre chose.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aavnt,avannt,avantt,avatn,avnat,avvant,vaant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of avant - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “avant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-V-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a.vɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “avon” - see the side-by-side comparison. avant vs avon
- 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.