distant

\dis.tɑ̃\

/\dis.tɑ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“distant” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #15,852. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,852
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est séparé par un intervalle plus ou moins grand.

Corpus desk

Index FR-distant · distant · French

distant · rank #15,852 · 11 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,852
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dissuader

Nearest frequency peer: dissuader (-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 « distant »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « distant » 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).

distant vs dotant
71% similar
distant vs doutant
71% similar
distant vs distinct
75% similar

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

Key facts for distant
PropertyValue
Headworddistant
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\dis.tɑ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#15,852
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « distant »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.distantse 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 « dissuader » (#15,851), « distraire » (#15,853), « disparues » (#15,850). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « distant » est au #15,852. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around distant (IPA \dis.tɑ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #15,852 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for distant, with forms such as "ddistant", "disatnt", and "disstant". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "dotant", "doutant", "distinct", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is distant, spelled D-I-S-T-A-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est séparé par un intervalle plus ou moins grand.
  2. 2
    Qui est situé à un autre emplacement géographique, dont l’accès nécessite un passage par le réseau ajoutant de la latence.
  3. 3
    Qui tient les gens à distance ; qui repousse la familiarité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le jeune homme se dirigea donc vers le parc de Valfeuillu, distant de quelques pas seulement, et, peu soucieux de l'article 394 du Code pénal, il franchit le large fossé qui entoure la propriété de M. de Trémorel.
  2. Leur but est de démontrer l’homologie de la flore et de la faune dans trois stations édaphiquement et climatiquement proches, distantes d'une dizaine de kilomètres.

Antonyms

local

This word in other languages

distant(English)distante(Español)distante(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddistant
  • disatnt
  • disstant
  • distannt
  • distantt
  • distatn
  • distnat
  • disttant
  • ditsant
  • dsitant
  • idstant

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddistant1disatnt2disstant1distannt1distantt1distatn2distnat2disttant1
Edit distance from "distant"

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 "distant"?
"distant" is spelled D-I-S-T-A-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \dis.tɑ̃\.
What does "distant" mean?
As an adjective, "distant" means: Qui est séparé par un intervalle plus ou moins grand.
What words are commonly confused with "distant"?
"distant" is commonly confused with "dotant", "doutant", "distinct". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "distant"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "distant" is \dis.tɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "distant" come from?
"distant" 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 "distant", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dormait#15,855cynique#15,847déborde#15,859démolir#15,861

Similar misspelling depth

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

dissuader11 variantsdiaspora11 variantscentrée11 variantsboursier11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list