détresse

\de.tʁɛs\

/\de.tʁɛs\/ noun

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

The verdict

“détresse” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,310. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,310
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Angoisse causée par un malheur imminent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-detresse · détresse · French

détresse · rank #7,310 · 11 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,310
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH définitif

Nearest frequency peer: définitif (-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 « détresse »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « détresse » 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).

détresse vs dresse
75% similar
détresse vs détruise
75% similar
détresse vs déesse
75% similar

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

Key facts for détresse
PropertyValue
Headworddétresse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\de.tʁɛs\
Letters8
Frequency rank#7,310
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « détresse »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).détressese 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 « définitif » (#7,309), « emprunt » (#7,311), « décharge » (#7,308). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « détresse » est au #7,310. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around détresse (IPA \de.tʁɛs\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,310 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for détresse, with forms such as "ddétresse", "detresse", and "dtéresse". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "dresse", "détruise", "déesse", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored 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 détresse, spelled D-É-T-R-E-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Angoisse causée par un malheur imminent.
  2. 2
    Situation malheureuse ; embarras critique qui étreint le cœur.
  3. 3
    Situation de vie extrêmement difficile, matériellement et émotivement.
  4. 4
    Situation périlleuse qui demande un secours urgent.
  5. 5
    Action qui fait présumer qu’une personne est dans un embarras pressant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Joséphine […] pissa dans ses jupes de détresse en remarquant l’altération des traits du Pape à cette apostrophe véhémente.
  2. Pousser des cris de détresse.

This word in other languages

distress(English)Not(Deutsch)aflição(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddétresse
  • detresse
  • dtéresse
  • dértesse
  • détersse
  • détrese
  • détreses
  • détrresse
  • détrsese
  • déttresse
  • édtresse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddétresse1detresse1dtéresse2dértesse2détersse2détrese1détreses2détrresse1
Edit distance from "détresse"

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 "détresse"?
"détresse" is spelled D-É-T-R-E-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \de.tʁɛs\.
What does "détresse" mean?
As a noun, "détresse" means: Angoisse causée par un malheur imminent.
What words are commonly confused with "détresse"?
"détresse" is commonly confused with "dresse", "détruise", "déesse". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "détresse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "détresse" is \de.tʁɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "détresse" come from?
"détresse" 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 "détresse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

décharge#7,308dessiner#7,300cycliste#7,296complice#7,290

Similar misspelling depth

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

emprunt11 variantscroyant11 variantsMarocain11 variantsaériennes11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list