circonstance

\siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\

/\siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“circonstance” has 19 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,014. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,014
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
19
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Particularité qui accompagne et distingue un fait, une situation, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-circonstance · circonstance · French

circonstance · rank #11,014 · 19 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #11,014
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 19 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Charleroi

Nearest frequency peer: Charleroi (-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 « circonstance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « circonstance » 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).

circonstance vs circonstances
92% similar

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

Key facts for circonstance
PropertyValue
Headwordcirconstance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\
Letters12
Frequency rank#11,014
Misspellings tracked19
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « circonstance »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).circonstancese 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 « Charleroi » (#11,013), « Cl » (#11,015), « chargeur » (#11,012). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « circonstance » est au #11,014. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 19 spelling variants around circonstance (IPA \siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,014 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 19 likely wrong-spelling variants for circonstance, with forms such as "ccirconstance", "cicronstance", and "circconstance". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "circonstances", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is circonstance, spelled C-I-R-C-O-N-S-T-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Particularité qui accompagne et distingue un fait, une situation, etc.
  2. 2
    Événement particulier ; occasion particulière.
  3. 3
    Rapports de temps, de lieu, de manière, de cause, etc., qui entourent l’action ou l’état exprimé par un verbe.
  4. 4
    Conjoncture présente ; situation actuelle des choses.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Apprécier les circonstances dans chaque cas particulier, tel est donc le rôle essentiel du chef. Du fait qu’il les connaît, qu’il les mesure, qu’il les exploite, il est vainqueur ; du fait qu’il les ignore, qu’il les juge mal, qu’il les néglige, il est vaincu.
  2. Le flot et le jusant courant au large, sans interruption, pendant 2 ou 3 heures après la haute ou basse mer sur la côte, circonstance dont il faut soigneusement tenir compte en franchissant les bancs.

This word in other languages

circumstance(English)circunstancia(Español)Bewandtnis(Deutsch)circunstância(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccirconstance
  • cicronstance
  • circconstance
  • circnostance
  • circonnstance
  • circonsatnce
  • circonsstance
  • circonstacne
  • circonstancce
  • circonstanec
  • circonstannce
  • circonstnace
  • circonsttance
  • circontsance
  • circosntance
  • cirocnstance
  • cirrconstance
  • criconstance
  • icrconstance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ccirconstance1cicronstance2circconstance1circnostance2circonnstance1circonsatnce2circonsstance1circonstacne2
Edit distance from "circonstance"

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 "circonstance"?
"circonstance" is spelled C-I-R-C-O-N-S-T-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\.
What does "circonstance" mean?
As a noun, "circonstance" means: Particularité qui accompagne et distingue un fait, une situation, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "circonstance"?
"circonstance" is commonly confused with "circonstances". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "circonstance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "circonstance" is \siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "circonstance" come from?
"circonstance" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "circonstance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

congrégation#11,021continuation#11,022correspondre#11,023descriptions#11,030

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (19 here; floor ≥5).

linguistiques19 variantséliminatoires19 variantsproportionnelle19 variantspositionnement19 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list