chicane

\ʃi.kan\

/\ʃi.kan\/ noun

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

The verdict

“chicane” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #29,278. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,278
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-chicane · chicane · French

chicane · rank #29,278 · 10 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #29,278
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Chardonnay

Nearest frequency peer: Chardonnay (-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 « chicane »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « chicane » 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).

chicane vs chiche
71% similar
chicane vs chienne
71% similar
chicane vs chicanes
88% similar

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

Key facts for chicane
PropertyValue
Headwordchicane
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃi.kan\
Letters7
Frequency rank#29,278
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « chicane »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).chicanese 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 « Chardonnay » (#29,277), « chics » (#29,279), « changées » (#29,276). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chicane » est au #29,278. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around chicane (IPA \ʃi.kan\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,278 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for chicane, with forms such as "cchicane", "chciane", and "chhicane". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "chiche", "chienne", "chicanes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is chicane, spelled C-H-I-C-A-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Procès.
  2. 2
    Abus que font certaines personnes des ressources et des formalités de la procédure.
  3. 3
    Toute objection sophistique ou trop subtile, toute contestation mal fondée, en quelle que matière que ce soit.
  4. 4
    Querelle, surtout entre enfants.
  5. 5
    Dispositif destiné à ralentir la circulation des voitures en les faisant zigzaguer, dans l’espoir d’augmenter la sécurité routière.
  6. 6
    Dispositif permettant le ralentissement ou la régularisation de l’écoulement des gaz d’échappement.
  7. 7
    Dispositif de protection contre la radiation.
  8. 8
    Absence de carte d’une couleur donnée dans une main.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Là, sur des tas poudreux de sacs et de pratique, Hurle tous les matins une Sibylle étique : On l’appelle Chicane; et ce monstre odieux Jamais pour l’équité n’eut d’oreilles ni d’yeux.
  2. Dupin a reproché aussi aux Morvandeaux leur amour de la chicane. Ce reproche me surprend de la part d’un avocat-plaidant (de 1800 à 1811), mais enfin l’accusation est fondée.

This word in other languages

sophistry(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cchicane
  • chciane
  • chhicane
  • chiacne
  • chicaen
  • chicanne
  • chiccane
  • chicnae
  • cihcane
  • hcicane

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chicane - 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.

cchicane1chciane2chhicane1chiacne2chicaen2chicanne1chiccane1chicnae2
Edit distance from "chicane"

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 "chicane"?
"chicane" is spelled C-H-I-C-A-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃi.kan\.
What does "chicane" mean?
As a noun, "chicane" means: Procès.
What words are commonly confused with "chicane"?
"chicane" is commonly confused with "chiche", "chienne", "chicanes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "chicane"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chicane" is \ʃi.kan\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chicane" come from?
"chicane" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "chicane", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cellier#29,274Carroll#29,271cadrage#29,264brisant#29,259

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

Calcutta10 variantsbougeait10 variantsCupidon10 variantscyborg10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list