enfer
\ɑ̃.fɛʁ\
The verdict
“enfer” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #2,775. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #2,775
- frequency rank, French
- 3,255
- “E” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Séjour des morts, avant le christianisme.
Corpus desk
Index FR-enfer · enfer · French
enfer · rank #2,775 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,775
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,255
- PHOTO-FINISH détruire
Nearest frequency peer: détruire (-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 “enfer”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- drogue
drogue
97,229 corpus weight
- découvre
découvre
97,228 corpus weight
- détruire
détruire
97,227 corpus weight
- enfer
enfer
97,226 corpus weight
- européennes
européennes
97,225 corpus weight
- frontières
frontières
97,224 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “enfer” 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 | enfer |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,775 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “enfer” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around enfer (IPA \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,775 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for enfer, with forms such as "efner", "enefr", and "enferr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "EnR", "ever", "enfin", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is enfer, spelled E-N-F-E-R.
Definition
- 1Séjour des morts, avant le christianisme.
- 2Lieux souterrains où les Grecs et les Romains croyaient que les âmes allaient après la mort.
- 3Lieu destiné au supplice des damnés.
- 4Lieu où l’on souffre, où l’on est au supplice, où l’on est extrêmement gêné, tourmenté, où il y a beaucoup de confusion et de désordre.
- 5Démons ; puissances de l’enfer.
- 6Partie réservée d’une bibliothèque où sont conservés les ouvrages dont la communication est jugée dangereuse, considérés comme licencieux ou « contraires aux bonnes mœurs ». Créé au début du XIXᵉ siècle, il s’agissait au départ d’une simple pièce dans laquelle on enfermait ou cadenassait toutes les œuvres (livres, médailles, etc.) ou objets le plus souvent à caractère érotique et qui étaient interdits au grand public, mais accessible uniquement sur recommandation.
- 7Citerne où se recueillent les eaux mêlées au marc d’olive dans les huileries. On en tire une huile de basse qualité dite « huile d’enfer ».
- 8Phare situé en mer (où la vie est rude).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how enfer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Teutatès, Tut-tat, père des hommes. […] César a cru reconnaître en lui, Dis, dieu des enfers ou Pluton ; mais César ne savait pas que les Gaulois n’avaient point d’enfer, et, par conséquent, pas de dieux infernaux.
Je crois en Dieu, le Père tout-puissant, Créateur du ciel et de la terre. Et en Jésus-Christ, […], est mort et a été enseveli, est descendu aux enfers, le troisième jour est ressuscité des morts, […].
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- efner
- enefr
- enferr
- enffer
- enfre
- ennfer
- nefer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of enfer - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "enfer"?
What does "enfer" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "enfer"?
How do you pronounce "enfer"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "enfer", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "enfer". Here's where to go from here.
- "enfer" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "EnR". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #2,775 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "E" letter cohort. E–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.