défendre
\de.fɑ̃dʁ\
The verdict
“défendre” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,660. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,660
- frequency rank, French
- 5,307
- “D” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Protéger, soutenir, quelqu'un ou quelque chose contre une attaque, une agression.
Corpus desk
Index FR-defendre · défendre · French
défendre · rank #1,660 · 13 variants · 19 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,660
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,307
- PHOTO-FINISH documents
Nearest frequency peer: documents (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “défendre”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- dangereux
dangereux
98,344 corpus weight
- danse
danse
98,343 corpus weight
- documents
documents
98,342 corpus weight
- défendre
défendre
98,341 corpus weight
- exercice
exercice
98,340 corpus weight
- françaises
françaises
98,339 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “défendre” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | défendre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \de.fɑ̃dʁ\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,660 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “défendre” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around défendre (IPA \de.fɑ̃dʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,660 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 16 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for défendre, with forms such as "ddéfendre", "defendre", and "dféendre". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "déféré", "défense", "défendu", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, 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 défendre, spelled D-É-F-E-N-D-R-E.
Definition
- 1Protéger, soutenir, quelqu'un ou quelque chose contre une attaque, une agression.
- 2Résister à ceux qui veulent se rendre maîtres d’une position militaire, s’opposer aux ennemis qui l’attaquent.
- 3Empêcher que l’ennemi ne puisse, sans risquer beaucoup, entrer dans un lieu ou en approcher.
- 4Garantir, tant au sens propre qu’au sens figuré.
- 5Soutenir l’innocence de quelqu’un contre ceux qui l’accusent.
- 6Fournir des défenses aux demandes de la partie adverse.
- 7Prohiber, interdire quelque chose.
- 8Empêcher un opposant de marquer un but.
- 9Repousser une attaque, une agression quelconque, y résister.
- 10Résister aux atteintes de la maladie, de l’âge, etc.
- 11Faire preuve de qualités, de compétences, réussir dans un domaine.
- 12Gagner de l’argent, exercer une activité rentable.
- 13Se prostituer.
- 14Se disculper, nier quelque chose qu’on vous reproche.
- 15S’excuser de faire quelque chose à quoi on voudrait vous obliger.
- 16S'empêcher, s'interdire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how défendre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Défendre quelqu’un au péril de sa vie. — Défendre ses concitoyens, sa patrie.
À cette nouvelle, femmes et filles se placèrent autour du cercueil du bienheureux, s’entr’exhortant à le défendre vaillamment.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddéfendre
- defendre
- dféendre
- déefndre
- défednre
- défenddre
- défender
- défendrre
- défenndre
- défenrde
- déffendre
- défnedre
- édfendre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of défendre - 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 "défendre"?
What does "défendre" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "défendre"?
How do you pronounce "défendre"?
What language does "défendre" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "défendre", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "défendre". Here's where to go from here.
- "défendre" maps to 19 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "déféré". View pair
- 13 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,660 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.