difficulté

\di.fi.kyl.te\

/\di.fi.kyl.te\/ noun

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

The verdict

“difficulté” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,072 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,072
frequency rank, French
10
letters
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ce qui rend une chose difficile.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

difficulté vs difficultés
91% similar
difficulté vs difficile
70% similar

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

Key facts for difficulté
PropertyValue
Headworddifficulté
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\di.fi.kyl.te\
Letters10
Frequency rank#2,072
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “difficulté” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). difficulté lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for difficulté is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \di.fi.kyl.te\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,072 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for difficulté, with forms such as "ddifficulté", "dfificulté", and "diffciulté". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "difficultés", "difficile", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is difficulté, spelled D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui rend une chose difficile.
  2. 2
    Manque de facilité pour quelque action que ce soit.
  3. 3
    Misère.
  4. 4
    Ce qu’il y a de difficile en quelque chose, obstacle, empêchement, traverse, opposition.
  5. 5
    Pour marquer l’adhésion, le consentement.
  6. 6
    Obscurité d’un texte, passage difficile à comprendre.
  7. 7
    Morceaux de musique d’une exécution difficile.
  8. 8
    Objection, raison alléguée contre.
  9. 9
    Problèmes embarrassants.
  10. 10
    Différend, contestation.

Synonyms

arduitéarduosité

This word in other languages

difficulty(English)dificultad(Español)Schwierigkeit(Deutsch)dificuldade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddifficulté,dfificulté,diffciulté,difficculté,difficluté,difficullté,difficulte,difficultté,difficulét,difficutlé,diffiuclté,dificulté,dififculté,idfficulté

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddifficulté1dfificulté2diffciulté2difficculté1difficluté2difficullté1difficulte1difficultté1
Edit distance from "difficulté"

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 "difficulté"?
"difficulté" is spelled D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T-É. The IPA pronunciation is \di.fi.kyl.te\.
What does "difficulté" mean?
As a noun, "difficulté" means: Ce qui rend une chose difficile.
What words are commonly confused with "difficulté"?
"difficulté" is commonly confused with "difficultés", "difficile". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "difficulté"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "difficulté" is \di.fi.kyl.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "difficulté" come from?
"difficulté" 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.

Using “difficulté”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \di.fi.kyl.te\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “difficultés” - see the side-by-side comparison. difficulté vs difficultés
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list