engine
\ɑ̃.ʒin\
The verdict
“engine” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #31,009 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #31,009
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de enginer.
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 | engine |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.ʒin\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #31,009 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “engine” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for engine is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɑ̃.ʒin\. Corpus data places it at rank #31,009 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for engine, with forms such as "egnine", "enggine", and "engien". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "envie", "épine", "entité", 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 easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is engine, spelled E-N-G-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de enginer.
- 2Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de enginer.
- 3Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de enginer.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de enginer.
- 5Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de enginer.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: egnine,enggine,engien,enginne,engnie,enigne,enngine,negine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of engine - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “engine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-N-G-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɑ̃.ʒin\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “envie” - see the side-by-side comparison. engine vs envie
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.