défient
\de.fi\
The verdict
“défient” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #39,267. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #39,267
- frequency rank, French
- 404,891
- “D” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de défier.
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 | défient |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \de.fi\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #39,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “défient” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around défient (IPA \de.fi\), averb. Corpus frequency is #39,267 among 404,891 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for défient, with forms such as "ddéfient", "defient", and "dféient". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "devint", "défini", "défunt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 défient, spelled D-É-F-I-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de défier.
- 2Troisième personne du pluriel du subjonctif présent de défier.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddéfient
- defient
- dféient
- défeint
- déffient
- défiennt
- défientt
- défietn
- définet
- déifent
- édfient
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of défient - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "défient"?
What does "défient" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "défient"?
How do you pronounce "défient"?
What language does "défient" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “défient”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is D-É-F-I-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \de.fi\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “devint” - see the side-by-side comparison. défient vs devint
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Same frequency band
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.