centre
\sɑ̃tʁ\
The verdict
“centre” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #344 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #344
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Point qui, dans un cercle ou une sphère, est à égale distance de tous les points de la circonférence de ce cercle ou de la surface de cette sphère.
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 | centre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \sɑ̃tʁ\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #344 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “centre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for centre is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɑ̃tʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #344 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 12 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 centre, with forms such as "ccentre", "cenntre", and "cenrte". 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, "cette", "cents", "conte", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is centre, spelled C-E-N-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Point qui, dans un cercle ou une sphère, est à égale distance de tous les points de la circonférence de ce cercle ou de la surface de cette sphère.
- 2Milieu d’un espace.
- 3Point le plus important d’une entité géographique.
- 4Partie d’une armée, d’une troupe rangée en bataille, qui occupe le milieu, qui est entre les deux ailes.
- 5Termes regroupant les mouvements politiques qui défendent des compromis entre les valeurs prônées par la droite et celles prônées par la gauche quand ces valeurs paraissent contradictoires (selon le genre de compromis généralement défendus, on parle de centre droit ou de centre gauche).
- 6Point autour duquel ou vers lequel, dans lequel s’opèrent ou se rassemblent certains effets.
- 7Lieu où se trouvent, où se font, où se pratiquent habituellement ou plus ordinairement certaines choses. → voir centrale.
- 8Choses auxquelles plusieurs autres se rapportent ou sont subordonnées. On le dit quelquefois des personnes dans un sens analogue.
- 9Envoi du ballon vers le centre du terrain.
- 10Joueur se trouvant au centre de la ligne d’attaque.
- 11Joueur se trouvant au centre de la ligne d’attaque, entre les deux ailiers.
- 12Ensemble des quatre cases du milieu de l’échiquier (d4, d5, e4, e5).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccentre,cenntre,cenrte,centrre,centtre,cetnre,cnetre,ecntre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of centre - 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
How do you spell "centre"?
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Using “centre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-E-N-T-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \sɑ̃tʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cette” - see the side-by-side comparison. centre vs cette
- 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.