désert

\de.zɛʁ\

/\de.zɛʁ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“désert” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,751. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,751
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est inhabité ou qui n’est guère fréquenté.

Corpus desk

Index FR-desert · désert · French

désert · rank #3,751 · 10 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,751
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH défend

Nearest frequency peer: défend (-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 « désert »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « désert » 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).

désert vs désir
67% similar
désert vs doser
67% similar
désert vs disent
67% similar

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

Key facts for désert
PropertyValue
Headworddésert
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\de.zɛʁ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,751
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « désert »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.désertse 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 « défend » (#3,750), « déçu » (#3,752), « dommages » (#3,749). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « désert » est au #3,751. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around désert (IPA \de.zɛʁ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,751 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Qui est inhabité ou qui n’est guère fréquenté.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for désert, with forms such as "ddésert", "desert", and "dséert". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "désir", "doser", "disent", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is désert, spelled D-É-S-E-R-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est inhabité ou qui n’est guère fréquenté.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La grande avenue était complètement déserte : on avait accordé trois heures aux habitants pour vider les lieux, et tout le monde, semblait-il, s’était hâté d’en profiter.
  2. Les cadres administratifs et sociaux étaient détruits, les kasbas et les gottas (fermes) en ruines, les champs incultes, les silos vides, les marchés abandonnés, les pistes désertes.

Synonyms

abandonnéisoléinoccupé

This word in other languages

deserted(English)desierto(Español)unbewohnt(Deutsch)deserto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddésert
  • desert
  • dséert
  • déesrt
  • déserrt
  • désertt
  • désetr
  • désret
  • déssert
  • édsert

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of désert - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ddésert1desert1dséert2déesrt2déserrt1désertt1désetr2désret2
Edit distance from "désert"

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 "désert"?
"désert" is spelled D-É-S-E-R-T. The IPA pronunciation is \de.zɛʁ\.
What does "désert" mean?
As an adjective, "désert" means: Qui est inhabité ou qui n’est guère fréquenté.
What words are commonly confused with "désert"?
"désert" is commonly confused with "désir", "doser", "disent". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "désert"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "désert" is \de.zɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "désert" come from?
"désert" 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 "désert", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

défend#3,750enjeux#3,753couvre#3,746gardes#3,758

Similar misspelling depth

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

dommages10 variantscroyais10 variantscollègue10 variantsavocats10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list