défensif
\de.fɑ̃.sif\
The verdict
“défensif” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,954. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,954
- frequency rank, French
- 5,307
- “D” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est fait pour la défense.
Corpus desk
Index FR-defensif · défensif · French
défensif · rank #12,954 · 13 variants · 5 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,954
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,307
- PHOTO-FINISH décorations
Nearest frequency peer: décorations (-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 « défensif »
Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin
- dramatiques
dramatiques
87,050 corpus weight
- débarqué
débarqué
87,049 corpus weight
- décorations
décorations
87,048 corpus weight
- défensif
défensif
87,047 corpus weight
- démographie
démographie
87,046 corpus weight
- déposées
déposées
87,045 corpus weight
What this shows « défensif » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.
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 | défensif |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \de.fɑ̃.sif\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #12,954 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « défensif »
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around défensif (IPA \de.fɑ̃.sif\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #12,954 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Qui est fait pour la défense.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for défensif, with forms such as "ddéfensif", "defensif", and "dféensif". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "défensive", "défensifs", "défense", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is défensif, spelled D-É-F-E-N-S-I-F.
Definition
- 1Qui est fait pour la défense.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how défensif appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La chlamyde servoit d'arme défensive lorsque l'on étoit surpris sans bouclier. On l’entortilloit alors autour du bras gauche, pour parer les coups de l'ennemi.
Après Alexandre, on chargea la cavalerie d'armes défensives; on donna aux cavaliers de lourdes cuirasses en écailles, puis des cuissarts et des gantelets, et aux chevaux des frontaux et des garde-flancs.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddéfensif
- defensif
- dféensif
- déefnsif
- défenisf
- défennsif
- défensfi
- défensiff
- défenssif
- défesnif
- déffensif
- défnesif
- édfensif
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of défensif - 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 "défensif"?
What does "défensif" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "défensif"?
How do you pronounce "défensif"?
What language does "défensif" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "défensif", 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).