connaissance

\kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\

/\kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“connaissance” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,226. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,226
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Exercice de la faculté par laquelle on connaît et on distingue les objets.

Corpus desk

Index FR-connaissance · connaissance · French

connaissance · rank #1,226 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,226
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH clients

Nearest frequency peer: clients (-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 « connaissance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « connaissance » 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).

connaissance vs connaissant
83% similar
connaissance vs connaissances
92% similar

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

Key facts for connaissance
PropertyValue
Headwordconnaissance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\
Letters12
Frequency rank#1,226
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « connaissance »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.connaissancese 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 « clients » (#1,225), « coups » (#1,227), « cité » (#1,224). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « connaissance » est au #1,226. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around connaissance (IPA \kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,226 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for connaissance, with forms such as "cconnaissance", "cnonaissance", and "conaissance". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "connaissant", "connaissances", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists 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 connaissance, spelled C-O-N-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Exercice de la faculté par laquelle on connaît et on distingue les objets.
  2. 2
    Idée, notion, concept qu’on a de quelque chose, de quelqu’un ; le fait de le connaître.
  3. 3
    En parlant d'un tribunal ou d'un juge, droit de traiter certaines affaires.
  4. 4
    Personne connue, avec laquelle on a des liaisons ou des relations.
  5. 5
    Savoir, instruction, lumières acquises.
  6. 6
    Relation privilégiée avec les choses de la sorcellerie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Perdre toute connaissance.
  2. Il est resté longtemps sans connaissance.

Synonyms

consciencecompréhensionacquiscompétencecultureéruditioninstructionsavoirscienceamicollèguerelation

Antonyms

ignorancedouteinconnaissanceinconscienceinexpérience

This word in other languages

knowledge(English)conciencia(Español)Kenntnis(Deutsch)conhecimento(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • cconnaissance
  • cnonaissance
  • conaissance
  • conanissance
  • connaisance
  • connaisasnce
  • connaissacne
  • connaissancce
  • connaissanec
  • connaissannce
  • connaissnace
  • connasisance
  • conniassance
  • ocnnaissance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of connaissance - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

cconnaissance1cnonaissance2conaissance1conanissance2connaisance1connaisasnce2connaissacne2connaissancce1
Edit distance from "connaissance"

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 "connaissance"?
"connaissance" is spelled C-O-N-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\.
What does "connaissance" mean?
As a noun, "connaissance" means: Exercice de la faculté par laquelle on connaît et on distingue les objets.
What words are commonly confused with "connaissance"?
"connaissance" is commonly confused with "connaissant", "connaissances". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "connaissance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "connaissance" is \kɔ.nɛ.sɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "connaissance" come from?
"connaissance" 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 "connaissance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

consommation#1,325enseignement#1,329généralement#1,114probablement#1,040

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

principal14 variantsétudiants14 variantsparlement14 variantsuniquement14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list