démence

\de.mɑ̃s\

/\de.mɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“démence” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,183. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,183
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Aliénation mentale chronique, acquise et évolutive, dont l'étiologie est diverse.

Corpus desk

Index FR-demence · démence · French

démence · rank #18,183 · 11 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,183
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH délicates

Nearest frequency peer: délicates (-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 « démence »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « démence » 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).

démence vs dément
71% similar
démence vs demeure
57% similar
démence vs devenue
57% similar

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

Key facts for démence
PropertyValue
Headworddémence
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\de.mɑ̃s\
Letters7
Frequency rank#18,183
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « démence »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).démencese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « délicates » (#18,182), « ecclésiastiques » (#18,184), « décédés » (#18,181). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « démence » est au #18,183. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around démence (IPA \de.mɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,183 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for démence, with forms such as "ddémence", "demence", and "dméence". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "dément", "demeure", "devenue", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is démence, spelled D-É-M-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Aliénation mentale chronique, acquise et évolutive, dont l'étiologie est diverse.
  2. 2
    Démarche, action, conduite qui indique de la déraison, de l’extravagance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le XVᵉ siècle apparaît affolé, dès sa naissance. Il semble que la démence de Charles VI se propage.
  2. Voici les signes avant-coureurs de la mort : dans les accès de folie, la phase du rire, fatale ; dans la démence, le geste répétitif d'effranger et de froisser les draps du lit.

Synonyms

foliesénilitétrouble neurocognitif majeur

This word in other languages

dementia(English)demencia(Español)Demenz(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddémence
  • demence
  • dméence
  • déemnce
  • démecne
  • démencce
  • démenec
  • démennce
  • démmence
  • démnece
  • édmence

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of démence - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddémence1demence1dméence2déemnce2démecne2démencce1démenec2démennce1
Edit distance from "démence"

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 "démence"?
"démence" is spelled D-É-M-E-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \de.mɑ̃s\.
What does "démence" mean?
As a noun, "démence" means: Aliénation mentale chronique, acquise et évolutive, dont l'étiologie est diverse.
What words are commonly confused with "démence"?
"démence" is commonly confused with "dément", "demeure", "devenue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "démence"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "démence" is \de.mɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "démence" come from?
"démence" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "démence", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

décédés#18,181décorée#18,179empirer#18,191dirigea#18,170

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

faisable11 variantsfictifs11 variantsGiscard11 variantsguerrière11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list