défunt

\de.fœ̃\

/\de.fœ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“défunt” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,840. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,840
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Décédé ; mort ; feu.

Corpus desk

Index FR-defunt · défunt · French

défunt · rank #8,840 · 10 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,840
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH drôles

Nearest frequency peer: drôles (-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 « défunt »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « défunt » 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).

défunt vs dent
50% similar
défunt vs devant
50% similar
défunt vs devint
50% similar

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

Key facts for défunt
PropertyValue
Headworddéfunt
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\de.fœ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#8,840
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « défunt »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).défuntse 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 « drôles » (#8,839), « députée » (#8,841), « doubler » (#8,838). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « défunt » est au #8,840. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around défunt (IPA \de.fœ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #8,840 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for défunt, with forms such as "ddéfunt", "defunt", and "dféunt". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "dent", "devant", "devint", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is défunt, spelled D-É-F-U-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Décédé ; mort ; feu.
  2. 2
    Feu. (Note : se place devant un nom pour indiquer que la personne est morte, invariable dans ce cas).
  3. 3
    Détruit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cet enfant est lord Fermain Clancharlie, fils légitime unique de lord Linnœus Clancharlie, baron Clancharlie et Hunkerville, marquis de Corleone en Italie, pair du royaume d’Angleterre, défunt, et d’Ann Bradshaw, son épouse, défunte.
  2. Le regard ankylosé par trop d’impérities, je cherchais un improbable mais tant espéré soutien au loin, partout et nulle part, peut-être vers le ciel où s'était machinalement orientée ma tête; ce ciel où avaient établi leurs pénates, mon défunt père et mes regrettées sœurs.

Synonyms

regretté

This word in other languages

deceased(English)difunto(Español)verstorben(Deutsch)defunto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddéfunt
  • defunt
  • dféunt
  • déffunt
  • défnut
  • défunnt
  • défuntt
  • défutn
  • déufnt
  • édfunt

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of défunt - 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.

ddéfunt1defunt1dféunt2déffunt1défnut2défunnt1défuntt1défutn2
Edit distance from "défunt"

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 "défunt"?
"défunt" is spelled D-É-F-U-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \de.fœ̃\.
What does "défunt" mean?
As an adjective, "défunt" means: Décédé ; mort ; feu.
What words are commonly confused with "défunt"?
"défunt" is commonly confused with "dent", "devant", "devint". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "défunt"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "défunt" is \de.fœ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "défunt" come from?
"défunt" 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 "défunt", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

drôles#8,839crayon#8,833Cooper#8,831congés#8,826

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

députée10 variantsdoubler10 variantsestimée10 variantsclergé10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list