empêchait
\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\
The verdict
“empêchait” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,473. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,473
- frequency rank, French
- 201,161
- “E” headwords
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher.
Corpus desk
Index FR-empechait · empêchait · French
empêchait · rank #18,473 · 14 variants · 5 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,473
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 14 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 201,161
- PHOTO-FINISH emportent
Nearest frequency peer: emportent (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “empêchait”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- earth
earth
81,531 corpus weight
- Edwards
Edwards
81,530 corpus weight
- emportent
emportent
81,529 corpus weight
- empêchait
empêchait
81,528 corpus weight
- enfermée
enfermée
81,527 corpus weight
- entende
entende
81,526 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “empêchait” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | empêchait |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #18,473 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “empêchait” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 14 spelling variants around empêchait (IPA \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #18,473 among 201,161 “E” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for empêchait, with forms such as "emmpêchait", "empcêhait", and "empechait". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "empêchent", "empêchant", "empêcherait", and more, 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 pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is empêchait, spelled E-M-P-Ê-C-H-A-I-T.
Definition
- 1Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- emmpêchait
- empcêhait
- empechait
- emppêchait
- empêcahit
- empêcchait
- empêchaitt
- empêchati
- empêchhait
- empêchiat
- empêhcait
- emêpchait
- epmêchait
- mepêchait
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of empêchait - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "empêchait"?
What does "empêchait" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "empêchait"?
How do you pronounce "empêchait"?
What language does "empêchait" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "empêchait", 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).
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.