dicton

\dik.tɔ̃\

/\dik.tɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“dicton” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #23,170. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,170
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mot ou phrase qui a pris la forme d'une référence à l'expérience, au savoir des anciens.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dicton · dicton · French

dicton · rank #23,170 · 9 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,170
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH devants

Nearest frequency peer: devants (-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 « dicton »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « dicton » 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).

dicton vs dion
67% similar
dicton vs Dijon
50% similar
dicton vs Dixon
50% similar

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

Key facts for dicton
PropertyValue
Headworddicton
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dik.tɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#23,170
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « dicton »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.dictonse 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 « devants » (#23,169), « directrices » (#23,171), « deus » (#23,168). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dicton » est au #23,170. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around dicton (IPA \dik.tɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #23,170 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Mot ou phrase qui a pris la forme d'une référence à l'expérience, au savoir des anciens.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for dicton, with forms such as "dciton", "ddicton", and "diccton". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "dion", "Dijon", "Dixon", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is dicton, spelled D-I-C-T-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mot ou phrase qui a pris la forme d'une référence à l'expérience, au savoir des anciens.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La richesse ne fait pas le bonheur; c'est un dicton qui court et que répètent volontiers les pauvres diables, pour se consoler des injustices de la fortune.
  2. De tradition ardennaise, la fête de l’Assomption est un jour d'orage. Ce dicton, aujourd'hui, se confirmera: le tonnerre commence de se faire entendre.

Synonyms

adageproverbe

This word in other languages

saying(English)dicho(Español)ditado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • dciton
  • ddicton
  • diccton
  • dicotn
  • dictno
  • dictonn
  • dictton
  • ditcon
  • idcton

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dicton - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

dciton2ddicton1diccton1dicotn2dictno2dictonn1dictton1ditcon2
Edit distance from "dicton"

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 "dicton"?
"dicton" is spelled D-I-C-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \dik.tɔ̃\.
What does "dicton" mean?
As a noun, "dicton" means: Mot ou phrase qui a pris la forme d'une référence à l'expérience, au savoir des anciens.
What words are commonly confused with "dicton"?
"dicton" is commonly confused with "dion", "Dijon", "Dixon". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dicton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dicton" is \dik.tɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dicton" come from?
"dicton" 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 "dicton", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Dresde#23,178crânes#23,161crypte#23,160eagles#23,193

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

envahie9 variantsenverrai9 variantscollent9 variantschabot9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list