desperate

\dɛspəˈʁaːtə\

/\dɛspəˈʁaːtə\/ adj

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

The verdict

“desperate” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #33,638. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,638
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de desperat.

Corpus desk

Index FR-desperate · desperate · French

desperate · rank #33,638 · 13 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #33,638
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH descendez

Nearest frequency peer: descendez (-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 « desperate »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « desperate » 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).

desperate vs desserte
78% similar
desperate vs disparate
78% similar
desperate vs déserte
67% similar

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

Key facts for desperate
PropertyValue
Headworddesperate
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\dɛspəˈʁaːtə\
Letters9
Frequency rank#33,638
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « desperate »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).desperatese 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 « descendez » (#33,637), « DGSE » (#33,639), « deo » (#33,636). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « desperate » est au #33,638. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around desperate (IPA \dɛspəˈʁaːtə\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #33,638 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for desperate, with forms such as "ddesperate", "depserate", and "deseprate". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "desserte", "disparate", "déserte", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is desperate, spelled D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de desperat.
  2. 2
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison forte de desperat.
  3. 3
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison mixte de desperat.
  4. 4
    Accusatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison faible de desperat.
  5. 5
    Accusatif pluriel (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison forte de desperat.
  6. 6
    Nominatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison forte de desperat.
  7. 7
    Nominatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison mixte de desperat.
  8. 8
    Nominatif pluriel (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison forte de desperat.
  9. 9
    Nominatif singulier (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison faible de desperat.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddesperate
  • depserate
  • deseprate
  • despearte
  • desperaet
  • desperatte
  • desperrate
  • despertae
  • despperate
  • despreate
  • dessperate
  • dseperate
  • edsperate

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddesperate1depserate2deseprate2despearte2desperaet2desperatte1desperrate1despertae2
Edit distance from "desperate"

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 "desperate"?
"desperate" is spelled D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \dɛspəˈʁaːtə\.
What does "desperate" mean?
As an adjective, "desperate" means: Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de desperat.
What words are commonly confused with "desperate"?
"desperate" is commonly confused with "desserte", "disparate", "déserte". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "desperate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "desperate" is \dɛspəˈʁaːtə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "desperate" come from?
"desperate" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "desperate", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

descendez#33,637célébrait#33,633curieuses#33,632découpées#33,652

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

départir13 variantsembarrasser13 variantsexaminant13 variantscarnivore13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list