caractéristique
\ka.ʁak.te.ʁis.tik\
The verdict
“caractéristique” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #5,640 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,640
- frequency rank, French
- 15
- letters
- 23
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui caractérise.
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 | caractéristique |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ka.ʁak.te.ʁis.tik\ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Frequency rank | #5,640 |
| Misspellings tracked | 23 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “caractéristique” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for caractéristique is 15 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.ʁak.te.ʁis.tik\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,640 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 23 likely wrong-spelling variants for caractéristique, with forms such as "acractéristique", "caarctéristique", and "caracctéristique". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "caractéristiques", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 caractéristique, spelled C-A-R-A-C-T-É-R-I-S-T-I-Q-U-E.
Definition
- 1Qui caractérise.
- 2Qui distingue des autres.
- 3Qualifie le point de contact d’une courbe plane et de son enveloppe ou la courbe de contact d’une surface et de la surface enveloppe.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acractéristique,caarctéristique,caracctéristique,caracteristique,caractréistique,caracttéristique,caractéirstique,caractérisitque,caractérisstique,caractéristiqeu,caractéristiqque,caractéristiuqe,caractéristqiue,caractéristtique,caractéritsique,caractérristique,caractérsitique,caracétristique,caratcéristique,carcatéristique,carractéristique,ccaractéristique,craactéristique
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of caractéristique - 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.
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 "caractéristique"?
What does "caractéristique" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "caractéristique"?
How do you pronounce "caractéristique"?
What language does "caractéristique" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “caractéristique”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-A-R-A-C-T-É-R-I-S-T-I-Q-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ka.ʁak.te.ʁis.tik\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “caractéristiques” - see the side-by-side comparison. caractéristique vs caractéristiques
- 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.