confusion

\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\

/\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“confusion” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,927. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,927
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - État de ce qui est confus, en parlant des choses physiques et des choses morales.

Corpus desk

Index FR-confusion · confusion · French

confusion · rank #4,927 · 13 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,927
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH comprenant

Nearest frequency peer: comprenant (-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 « confusion »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « confusion » 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).

confusion vs contusion
89% similar
confusion vs confusions
90% similar
confusion vs contusions
80% similar

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

Key facts for confusion
PropertyValue
Headwordconfusion
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#4,927
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « confusion »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).confusionse 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 « comprenant » (#4,926), « contribuer » (#4,928), « comportements » (#4,925). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « confusion » est au #4,927. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around confusion (IPA \kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,927 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for confusion, with forms such as "cconfusion", "cnofusion", and "cofnusion". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "contusion", "confusions", "contusions", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

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 confusion, spelled C-O-N-F-U-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    État de ce qui est confus, en parlant des choses physiques et des choses morales.
  2. 2
    Désordre d’un état ; trouble politique.
  3. 3
    Défaut d’ordre, de méthode, de clarté dans les choses qui tiennent aux opérations de l’esprit.
  4. 4
    Action de confondre une chose avec une autre ; résultat de cette action.
  5. 5
    Réunion qui se fait en une même personne des droits actifs et passifs concernant un même objet.
  6. 6
    Trouble qui résulte de la honte, de l’humiliation, d’un excès de modestie.
  7. 7
    Effet produit par le non respect du seuil de séparation ou du seuil de différenciation entre des éléments graphiques voisins ou de valeurs voisines.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Telles cependant étaient la foule et la confusion, que, […], les efforts qu’ils firent pour se rencontrer étaient inutiles, et ils furent maintes fois séparés par l’ardeur de leurs partisans.
  2. La route reliant Bastogne au quartier général du 8ᵉ Corps, par Sibret, fut en effet coupée, au cours de la nuit du mercredi, à la suite des confusions que l’incoordination des ordres rendait presque inévitable : la route resta non gardée pendant la nuit.

Synonyms

embrouilleimbrogliomalentenduméprisequiproquo

This word in other languages

confusion(English)confusión(Español)Konfusion(Deutsch)confusão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cconfusion
  • cnofusion
  • cofnusion
  • conffusion
  • confsuion
  • confuison
  • confusino
  • confusionn
  • confusoin
  • confussion
  • connfusion
  • conufsion
  • ocnfusion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

cconfusion1cnofusion2cofnusion2conffusion1confsuion2confuison2confusino2confusionn1
Edit distance from "confusion"

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 "confusion"?
"confusion" is spelled C-O-N-F-U-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\.
What does "confusion" mean?
As a noun, "confusion" means: État de ce qui est confus, en parlant des choses physiques et des choses morales.
What words are commonly confused with "confusion"?
"confusion" is commonly confused with "contusion", "confusions", "contusions". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "confusion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "confusion" is \kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "confusion" come from?
"confusion" 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 "confusion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

compagnon#4,924commander#4,923assistant#4,908identique#4,946

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

changent13 variantsmarchand13 variantsmaréchal13 variantsmontrant13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list