dénivellation

\de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\

/\de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“dénivellation” is uncommon French (frequency #69,024 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,024
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Différence de niveau, tant physique que symbolique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-denivellation · dénivellation · French

dénivellation · rank #69,024 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,024
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dénigrent

Nearest frequency peer: dénigrent (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dénivellation »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dénivellation » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dénivellation
PropertyValue
Headworddénivellation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\
Letters13
Frequency rank#69,024
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dénivellation » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).dénivellationtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « dénigrent » (#69,023), « dénuder » (#69,025), « démographe » (#69,022). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dénivellation » est au #69,024. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dénivellation is uncommon French at frequency #69,024 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

dénivellation doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is dénivellation, spelled D-É-N-I-V-E-L-L-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Différence de niveau, tant physique que symbolique.
  2. 2
    Fait de déniveler.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Au-devant d'elle, la dénivellation de la surface liquide formait comme une sorte de gouffre.
  2. Malgré la pénombre, le père devina une dénivellation plus accentuée, mais la montée, de l’autre côté, ne paraissait pas trop rude.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "dénivellation"?
"dénivellation" is spelled D-É-N-I-V-E-L-L-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\.
What does "dénivellation" mean?
As a noun, "dénivellation" means: Différence de niveau, tant physique que symbolique.
How do you pronounce "dénivellation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dénivellation" is \de.ni.vɛ.la.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dénivellation" come from?
"dénivellation" 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 "dénivellation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list