encourage

\ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\

/\ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“encourage” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,313. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,313
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de encourager.

Corpus desk

Index FR-encourage · encourage · French

encourage · rank #7,313 · 12 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,313
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH encadrement

Nearest frequency peer: encadrement (-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 « encourage »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « encourage » 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).

encourage vs encourue
78% similar
encourage vs entourage
89% similar
encourage vs encourager
90% similar

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

Key facts for encourage
PropertyValue
Headwordencourage
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#7,313
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « encourage »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.encouragese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « encadrement » (#7,312), « entendent » (#7,314), « emprunt » (#7,311). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « encourage » est au #7,313. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around encourage (IPA \ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,313 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for encourage, with forms such as "ecnourage", "enccourage", and "encoruage". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "encourue", "entourage", "encourager", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is encourage, spelled E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de encourager.
  2. 2
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de encourager.
  3. 3
    Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de encourager.
  4. 4
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de encourager.
  5. 5
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de encourager.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. On voit l’irresponsabilité de l’État qui encourage le développement de secteurs nouveaux (Arts Plastiques, Théâtre, Musique, FLE…) sans donner les moyens en postes pour les faire fonctionner et qui du jour au lendemain dévalorise et menace les nouvelles formations, notamment l’ensemble des centres de Français Langue Étrangère du secteur public (à 90 % vac…

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ecnourage
  • enccourage
  • encoruage
  • encouarge
  • encouraeg
  • encouragge
  • encourgae
  • encourrage
  • encuorage
  • enncourage
  • enocurage
  • necourage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ecnourage2enccourage1encoruage2encouarge2encouraeg2encouragge1encourgae2encourrage1
Edit distance from "encourage"

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 "encourage"?
"encourage" is spelled E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\.
What does "encourage" mean?
As a verb, "encourage" means: Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de encourager.
What words are commonly confused with "encourage"?
"encourage" is commonly confused with "encourue", "entourage", "encourager". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "encourage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "encourage" is \ɑ̃.ku.ʁaʒ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "encourage" come from?
"encourage" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "encourage", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

entendent#7,314escaliers#7,315définitif#7,309impulsion#7,334

Similar misspelling depth

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

humidité12 variantscomplice12 variantspartagée12 variantsambitieux12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list