debout
\də.bu\
The verdict
“debout” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,770 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #2,770
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qualifie un vent, de face, quand il est en sens contraire au mouvement de l’aéronef, du navire, etc.
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 | debout |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \də.bu\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,770 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “debout” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for debout is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \də.bu\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,770 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 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for debout, with forms such as "dbeout", "ddebout", and "debbout". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "début", "dépôt", "défaut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is debout, spelled D-E-B-O-U-T.
Definition
- 1Qualifie un vent, de face, quand il est en sens contraire au mouvement de l’aéronef, du navire, etc.
- 2Qualifie la magistrature qui accuse (par opposition à celle assise qui rend le jugement).
- 3Qualifie le bois pris dans le sens des fibres.
- 4Qui n'est pas couché.
- 5Se dit d’animaux en particulier l’ours qui est représenté dressé sur ses pattes arrière. À rapprocher de en pied, levé et rampant.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: dbeout,ddebout,debbout,debotu,deboutt,debuot,deobut,edbout
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of debout - 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.
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 "debout"?
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Using “debout”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is D-E-B-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \də.bu\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “début” - see the side-by-side comparison. debout vs début
- 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.