discerner

\di.sɛʁ.ne\

/\di.sɛʁ.ne\/ verb

The verdict

“discerner” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #24,933. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,933
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Voir distinctement un objet de manière à ne pas le confondre avec un ou plusieurs autres.

Corpus desk

Index FR-discerner · discerner · French

discerner · rank #24,933 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,933
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dirk

Nearest frequency peer: dirk (-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 « discerner »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « discerner » 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).

discerner vs disperser
78% similar
discerner vs décerner
78% similar

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

Key facts for discerner
PropertyValue
Headworddiscerner
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\di.sɛʁ.ne\
Letters9
Frequency rank#24,933
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « discerner »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).discernerse 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 « dirk » (#24,932), « discutez » (#24,934), « diffusant » (#24,931). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « discerner » est au #24,933. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around discerner (IPA \di.sɛʁ.ne\), averb. Corpus frequency is #24,933 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for discerner, with forms such as "ddiscerner", "dicserner", and "disccerner". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "disperser", "décerner", 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, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is discerner, spelled D-I-S-C-E-R-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Voir distinctement un objet de manière à ne pas le confondre avec un ou plusieurs autres.
  2. 2
    Se rendre un compte exact des qualités par lesquelles une chose ou une personne diffère d’une autre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dans le regard de ces gens, il discerna clairement de la crainte, presque de la méfiance.
  2. Maintenant d’ailleurs que le regard se faisait à l'obscurité, on discernait la vitre dépolie du soupirail, vaguement illuminé chaque fois que se ravivait un bec de gaz assez lointain, dont le manchon était sans doute crevé.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddiscerner
  • dicserner
  • disccerner
  • discenrer
  • discerenr
  • discernerr
  • discernner
  • discernre
  • discerrner
  • discrener
  • disecrner
  • disscerner
  • dsicerner
  • idscerner

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddiscerner1dicserner2disccerner1discenrer2discerenr2discernerr1discernner1discernre2
Edit distance from "discerner"

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 "discerner"?
"discerner" is spelled D-I-S-C-E-R-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \di.sɛʁ.ne\.
What does "discerner" mean?
As a verb, "discerner" means: Voir distinctement un objet de manière à ne pas le confondre avec un ou plusieurs autres.
What words are commonly confused with "discerner"?
"discerner" is commonly confused with "disperser", "décerner". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "discerner"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "discerner" is \di.sɛʁ.ne\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "discerner" come from?
"discerner" 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 "discerner", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list