distraire

\dis.tʁɛʁ\

/\dis.tʁɛʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“distraire” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #15,853. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,853
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Détourner de quelque application.

Corpus desk

Index FR-distraire · distraire · French

distraire · rank #15,853 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,853
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH distant

Nearest frequency peer: distant (-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 « distraire »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « distraire » 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).

distraire vs distrait
78% similar
distraire vs distraite
89% similar

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

Key facts for distraire
PropertyValue
Headworddistraire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\dis.tʁɛʁ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#15,853
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « distraire »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).distrairese 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 « distant » (#15,852), « dissuader » (#15,851), « dormait » (#15,855). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « distraire » est au #15,853. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around distraire (IPA \dis.tʁɛʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #15,853 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for distraire, with forms such as "ddistraire", "disrtaire", and "disstraire". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "distrait", "distraite", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is distraire, spelled D-I-S-T-R-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Détourner de quelque application.
  2. 2
    Éloigner l’esprit de ce qui le fatigue ou l’obsède ; amuser, divertir.
  3. 3
    Retrancher ; détacher.
  4. 4
    Retrancher ; détacher.
  5. 5
    Trouver et exercer des activités peu importantes pour se détendre ou s'amuser.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Quand César se retourna pour dire à sa femme : — Eh bien ! que veux-tu, Constance ? son air, comme celui des hommes distraits par des calculs, fut si exorbitamment niais, que madame Birotteau se mit à rire.
  2. La situation dans laquelle se trouvaient le chevalier noir et Cédric était devenue vraiment dangereuse, et elle l’eût été davantage encore si les archers restés dans la barbacane n’eussent tiré constamment sur tous les hommes d’armes qui se montraient sur les remparts, distrayant ainsi leur attention, […].

This word in other languages

distract(English)distraer(Español)zerstreuen(Deutsch)entreter(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddistraire
  • disrtaire
  • disstraire
  • distarire
  • distraier
  • distrairre
  • distrarie
  • distriare
  • distrraire
  • disttraire
  • ditsraire
  • dsitraire
  • idstraire

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddistraire1disrtaire2disstraire1distarire2distraier2distrairre1distrarie2distriare2
Edit distance from "distraire"

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 "distraire"?
"distraire" is spelled D-I-S-T-R-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \dis.tʁɛʁ\.
What does "distraire" mean?
As a verb, "distraire" means: Détourner de quelque application.
What words are commonly confused with "distraire"?
"distraire" is commonly confused with "distrait", "distraite". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "distraire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "distraire" is \dis.tʁɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "distraire" come from?
"distraire" 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 "distraire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

dissuader#15,851disparues#15,850craignait#15,843embuscade#15,869

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

dépendra13 variantsenchanté13 variantsimposante13 variantsintrigues13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list