épineux
\e.pi.nø\
The verdict
“épineux” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #22,745. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #22,745
- frequency rank, French
- 1,805
- “É” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a des épines, des piquants.
Corpus desk
Index FR-epineux · épineux · French
épineux · rank #22,745 · 10 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-MID #22,745
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,805
- PHOTO-FINISH émetteurs
Nearest frequency peer: émetteurs (-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 « épineux »
Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin
- égalisation
égalisation
77,259 corpus weight
- éliminant
éliminant
77,258 corpus weight
- émetteurs
émetteurs
77,257 corpus weight
- épineux
épineux
77,256 corpus weight
- Éthiopie
Éthiopie
77,254 corpus weight
- évacués
évacués
77,253 corpus weight
What this shows « épineux » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.
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 | épineux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \e.pi.nø\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #22,745 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « épineux »
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around épineux (IPA \e.pi.nø\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #22,745 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for épineux, with forms such as "epineux", "péineux", and "éipneux". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "épine", "épines", "épineuse", 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, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is épineux, spelled É-P-I-N-E-U-X.
Definition
- 1Qui a des épines, des piquants.
- 2Qui est plein de difficultés, d’embarras, de contrariétés, etc.
- 3Qui fait des difficultés sur tout, en parlant des personnes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how épineux appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les pâturages, enclavés dans les bois de tous côtés, sauf au levant, où des haies vives érigeaient leurs épaisses barrières épineuses, restaient d’un vert dru malgré la chaleur torride de cette fin d’été.
– La montée au temple de la Fortune qui se présente à vous est une des moins épineuses que j’aie vues.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- epineux
- péineux
- éipneux
- épienux
- épineuxx
- épinexu
- épinneux
- épinuex
- épnieux
- éppineux
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of épineux - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "épineux"?
What does "épineux" mean?
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "épineux", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).