épouvante
\e.pu.vɑ̃t\
The verdict
“épouvante” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #30,877. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #30,877
- frequency rank, French
- 1,805
- “É” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Peur intense causée par une menace devenue soudain perceptible.
Corpus desk
Index FR-epouvante · épouvante · French
épouvante · rank #30,877 · 13 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-MID #30,877
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,805
- PHOTO-FINISH épargnants
Nearest frequency peer: épargnants (-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 “épouvante”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- égarés
égarés
69,127 corpus weight
- éminence
éminence
69,126 corpus weight
- épargnants
épargnants
69,125 corpus weight
- épouvante
épouvante
69,124 corpus weight
- équipementi…
équipementier
69,123 corpus weight
- étalons
étalons
69,122 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “épouvante” 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 | épouvante |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \e.pu.vɑ̃t\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #30,877 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “épouvante” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around épouvante (IPA \e.pu.vɑ̃t\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,877 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for épouvante, with forms such as "epouvante", "péouvante", and "éopuvante". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "éprouvant", "éprouvante", "émouvant", 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, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is épouvante, spelled É-P-O-U-V-A-N-T-E.
Definition
- 1Peur intense causée par une menace devenue soudain perceptible.
- 2Appréhension, peur profonde et persistante.
- 3Incarnation, représentation de ce qui est épouvantable.
- 4Genre littéraire ou cinématographique présentant des situations d’épouvante.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how épouvante appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ils s’arrêtèrent tout à coup, et se regardèrent avec épouvante ; car il leur avait semblé que d’autres éclats de rire, trop différents des leurs pour en être un écho, retentissaient à côté d’eux dans l’ombre…
Du haut d’un des escarpements qu’il put atteindre, il vit la mer, masse d'azur qu’il prit pour une muraille solide, et dont la grandeur le jeta dans l’épouvante.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- epouvante
- péouvante
- éopuvante
- épouavnte
- épouvanet
- épouvannte
- épouvantte
- épouvatne
- épouvnate
- épouvvante
- épovuante
- éppouvante
- épuovante
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of épouvante - 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 "épouvante"?
What does "épouvante" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "épouvante"?
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "épouvante", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "épouvante". Here's where to go from here.
- "épouvante" maps to 7 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "éprouvant". View pair
- 13 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #30,877 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "É" letter cohort. É–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.