chanson
\ʃɑ̃.sɔ̃\
The verdict
“chanson” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #1,135 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,135
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ce texte chanté.
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 | chanson |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʃɑ̃.sɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,135 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chanson” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for chanson is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɑ̃.sɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,135 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for chanson, with forms such as "cahnson", "cchanson", and "channson". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "chaton", "Chinon", "Charon", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is chanson, spelled C-H-A-N-S-O-N.
Definition
- 1Ce texte chanté.
- 2Texte mis en musique, divisé en strophes ou couplets, avec ou sans refrain.
- 3Ce texte et sa partition imprimés.
- 4Chanson de geste, poème épique du Moyen Âge.
- 5Propos futiles, sornettes, discours ou raison frivole.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahnson,cchanson,channson,chanosn,chansno,chansonn,chansson,chasnon,chhanson,chnason,hcanson
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chanson - 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 "chanson"?
What does "chanson" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "chanson"?
How do you pronounce "chanson"?
What language does "chanson" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “chanson”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-H-A-N-S-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʃɑ̃.sɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “chaton” - see the side-by-side comparison. chanson vs chaton
- 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.