bénin

\be.nɛ̃\

/\be.nɛ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“bénin” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,357. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,357
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Doux et bienveillant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-benin · bénin · French

bénin · rank #11,357 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,357
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH buffet

Nearest frequency peer: buffet (-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 « bénin »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « bénin » 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).

bénin vs bin
60% similar
bénin vs brin
60% similar
bénin vs Benz
20% similar

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

Key facts for bénin
PropertyValue
Headwordbénin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\be.nɛ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#11,357
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « bénin »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.béninse 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 « buffet » (#11,356), « cadet » (#11,358), « bombardements » (#11,355). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bénin » est au #11,357. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around bénin (IPA \be.nɛ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #11,357 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for bénin, with forms such as "bbénin", "benin", and "bnéin". 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, "bin", "brin", "Benz", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is bénin, spelled B-É-N-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Doux et bienveillant.
  2. 2
    Trop bon, dont la tolérance tourne à la faiblesse.
  3. 3
    Propice, favorable.
  4. 4
    Qui n’est pas alarmant.
  5. 5
    Qualifie une affection qui n’est pas cancéreuse.
  6. 6
    Qui agit doucement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les terribles prêcheurs des Seize, les moines qui portaient le mousquet aux processions de la Ligue, s'humanisent tout à coup ; les voilà devenus bénins. C'est qu'il faut bien essayer d’endormir ceux qu'on n'a pas pu tuer.
  2. Ô Seigneur, vous qui donnez aux juges ces regards bénins, ces oreilles attentives et ce cœur toujours ouvert à la vérité.

Synonyms

angéliqueanodinbienveillantbénéfiqueclémentdouxfaiblepropicevéniel

Antonyms

malin

This word in other languages

benign(English)benigno(Español)gutartig(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbénin
  • benin
  • bnéin
  • béinn
  • béninn
  • bénni
  • bénnin
  • ébnin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bénin - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbénin1benin1bnéin2béinn2béninn1bénni2bénnin1ébnin2
Edit distance from "bénin"

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 "bénin"?
"bénin" is spelled B-É-N-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \be.nɛ̃\.
What does "bénin" mean?
As an adjective, "bénin" means: Doux et bienveillant.
What words are commonly confused with "bénin"?
"bénin" is commonly confused with "bin", "brin", "Benz". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bénin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bénin" is \be.nɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bénin" come from?
"bénin" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "bénin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cadet#11,358boeuf#11,354bella#11,352avéré#11,348

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

cerise8 variantsBoeing8 variantschips8 variantscoiffeur8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list