espion

\ɛs.pjɔ̃\

/\ɛs.pjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“espion” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,375. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,375
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Celui qui est chargé par un pays de recueillir clandestinement, dans un autre pays, des informations gardées secrètes ; celui qui espionne.

Corpus desk

Index FR-espion · espion · French

espion · rank #12,375 · 8 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,375
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH environnement…

Nearest frequency peer: environnementaux (-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 « espion »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « espion » 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).

espion vs ESPN
0% similar
espion vs espions
86% similar
espion vs espionne
75% similar

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

Key facts for espion
PropertyValue
Headwordespion
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛs.pjɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#12,375
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « espion »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).espionse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « environnementaux » (#12,374), « eue » (#12,376), « entrez » (#12,373). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « espion » est au #12,375. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around espion (IPA \ɛs.pjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,375 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for espion, with forms such as "epsion", "esipon", and "espino". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "ESPN", "espions", "espionne", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is espion, spelled E-S-P-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Celui qui est chargé par un pays de recueillir clandestinement, dans un autre pays, des informations gardées secrètes ; celui qui espionne.
  2. 2
    Catégorie de personnes ne bénéficiant pas du statut de combattant si elles ne font pas partie des forces armées et qui, si elles sont reconnues comme telle, perdent certains droits inscrit dans les conventions de Genève.
  3. 3
    Celui qui observe secrètement les activités d’autrui pour les rapporter à un tiers.
  4. 4
    Miroir permettant d’observer sans être vu.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il jouait bien involontairement un rôle sinistre et mystérieux – le rôle d’espion international. Il surprenait des secrets ; il menaçait, en fait, les projets d’une puissance non moindre que l’Empire Germanique ; il se jetait étourdiment dans le foyer ardent de la WeltPolitik.
  2. Les espions sont devenus des agents de renseignement habilités, ultraqualifiés, surcontrôlés. […]. Mister Q, le bidouilleur de Bond, est devenu expert en numérique. Il traque les logiciels espions, fait parler les données et la reconnaissance faciale.

Synonyms

agent secretobservateurrenseignement

This word in other languages

spy(English)espía(Español)Spion(Deutsch)espião(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epsion
  • esipon
  • espino
  • espionn
  • espoin
  • esppion
  • esspion
  • sepion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

epsion2esipon2espino2espionn1espoin2esppion1esspion1sepion2
Edit distance from "espion"

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 "espion"?
"espion" is spelled E-S-P-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛs.pjɔ̃\.
What does "espion" mean?
As a noun, "espion" means: Celui qui est chargé par un pays de recueillir clandestinement, dans un autre pays, des informations gardées secrètes ; celui qui espionne.
What words are commonly confused with "espion"?
"espion" is commonly confused with "ESPN", "espions", "espionne". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "espion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "espion" is \ɛs.pjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "espion" come from?
"espion" 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 "espion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

entrez#12,373Graham#12,387Durand#12,360crèche#12,349

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

failles8 variantscégep8 variantsBryan8 variantsmutuel8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list