encombre

\ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\

/\ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“encombre” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #24,957. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,957
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Obstacle, difficulté matérielle ou d’autre nature.

Corpus desk

Index FR-encombre · encombre · French

encombre · rank #24,957 · 12 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,957
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH effacée

Nearest frequency peer: effacée (-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 « encombre »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « encombre » 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).

encombre vs encore
75% similar
encombre vs encontre
75% similar
encombre vs encombrer
89% similar

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

Key facts for encombre
PropertyValue
Headwordencombre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#24,957
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « encombre »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).encombrese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « effacée » (#24,956), « enfantin » (#24,958), « ee » (#24,955). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « encombre » est au #24,957. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around encombre (IPA \ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #24,957 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Obstacle, difficulté matérielle ou d’autre nature.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for encombre, with forms such as "ecnombre", "enccombre", and "encmobre". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "encore", "encontre", "encombrer", 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 its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is encombre, spelled E-N-C-O-M-B-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Obstacle, difficulté matérielle ou d’autre nature.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Comme pendant sa jeunesse il avait été manégé par quelques-unes des femmes les plus spirituelles de la cour de Louis XV, il ne désespérait pas trop de préserver la comtesse de tout encombre…
  2. La mère Camille vécut là pendant quarante-cinq ans, non point sans traverses, car elle était vouée aux encombres et aux catastrophes ; mais les revers semblaient ne pas l’atteindre et sa bonne humeur s’en augmentait.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ecnombre
  • enccombre
  • encmobre
  • encobmre
  • encombbre
  • encomber
  • encombrre
  • encommbre
  • encomrbe
  • enncombre
  • enocmbre
  • necombre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of encombre - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ecnombre2enccombre1encmobre2encobmre2encombbre1encomber2encombrre1encommbre1
Edit distance from "encombre"

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 "encombre"?
"encombre" is spelled E-N-C-O-M-B-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\.
What does "encombre" mean?
As a noun, "encombre" means: Obstacle, difficulté matérielle ou d’autre nature.
What words are commonly confused with "encombre"?
"encombre" is commonly confused with "encore", "encontre", "encombrer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "encombre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "encombre" is \ɑ̃.kɔ̃bʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "encombre" come from?
"encombre" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "encombre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list