enfance

\ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\

/\ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“enfance” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,951. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,951
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première partie de la vie de l’être humain, précédant l’adolescence.

Corpus desk

Index FR-enfance · enfance · French

enfance · rank #1,951 · 10 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,951
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH défaut

Nearest frequency peer: défaut (-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 « enfance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « enfance » 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).

enfance vs enfant
71% similar
enfance vs énoncé
43% similar
enfance vs enfants
71% similar

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

Key facts for enfance
PropertyValue
Headwordenfance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,951
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « enfance »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).enfancese 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 « défaut » (#1,950), « estime » (#1,952), « contrairement » (#1,949). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « enfance » est au #1,951. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around enfance (IPA \ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,951 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for enfance, with forms such as "efnance", "enafnce", and "enfacne". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "enfant", "énoncé", "enfants", 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 is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is enfance, spelled E-N-F-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première partie de la vie de l’être humain, précédant l’adolescence.
  2. 2
    État de celui qui est enfant, qui se comporte comme tel.
  3. 3
    Commencement, début.
  4. 4
    Ensemble des enfants.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Jadis, aux temps lointains de ma jeunesse, aux temps de mon enfance à jamais disparue, je me réjouissais en arrivant pour la première fois dans un endroit inconnu…
  2. De ma tendre enfance je ne parlerai pas. […]. Eussé-je autrement décidé que je me garderais du ridicule qui s’attache à quiconque fait un sort aux minuties du premier âge.

Synonyms

gosselinagepremier âgepuérilité

This word in other languages

childhood(English)infancia(Español)Kindheit(Deutsch)infância(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efnance
  • enafnce
  • enfacne
  • enfancce
  • enfanec
  • enfannce
  • enffance
  • enfnace
  • ennfance
  • nefance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

efnance2enafnce2enfacne2enfancce1enfanec2enfannce1enffance1enfnace2
Edit distance from "enfance"

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 "enfance"?
"enfance" is spelled E-N-F-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\.
What does "enfance" mean?
As a noun, "enfance" means: Première partie de la vie de l’être humain, précédant l’adolescence.
What words are commonly confused with "enfance"?
"enfance" is commonly confused with "enfant", "énoncé", "enfants". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "enfance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "enfance" is \ɑ̃.fɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "enfance" come from?
"enfance" 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 "enfance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hommage#1,955chiffre#1,946maximum#1,960échelle#1,940

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

pouvons10 variantsstation10 variantspensais10 variantsparoles10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list