élan
\e.lɑ̃\
The verdict
“élan” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,391. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,391
- frequency rank, French
- 1,805
- “É” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mouvement pour s’élancer.
Corpus desk
Index FR-elan · élan · French
élan · rank #7,391 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,391
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,805
- PHOTO-FINISH éclate
Nearest frequency peer: éclate (-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 « élan »
Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin
- éclat
éclat
92,612 corpus weight
- éclate
éclate
92,611 corpus weight
- élan
élan
92,610 corpus weight
- élire
élire
92,609 corpus weight
- Étienne
Étienne
92,608 corpus weight
- évoquer
évoquer
92,607 corpus weight
What this shows « élan » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | élan |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \e.lɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,391 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « élan »
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around élan (IPA \e.lɑ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,391 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for élan, with forms such as "elan", "léan", and "éaln". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "en", "élu", "eva", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is élan, spelled É-L-A-N.
Definition
- 1Mouvement pour s’élancer.
- 2Continuation sans dynamisme d'un mouvement déjà amorcé.
- 3Comportement vif et dynamique.
- 4Changement subit d'attitude, sous l’influence d’un sentiment vif ou généreux.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how élan appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il avait hâte de mettre la jeune femme à l’abri, et, d’un élan, il traversa les champs et la porta jusqu’à une grange isolée que, dès le début, il s’était proposé d’atteindre.
Ce héros, la lance brandie en avant, l’oriflamme sacrée flottant au-dessus de sa tête, entra d'un élan fougueux dans la masse guerrière qui lui prêtait le flanc.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- elan
- léan
- éaln
- élann
- éllan
- élna
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of élan - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "élan"?
What does "élan" mean?
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "élan", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).