espionnage
\ɛs.pjɔ.naʒ\
The verdict
“espionnage” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #8,707 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,707
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Action d’espionner, d'utiliser un ou des espions ; métier d’espion.
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 | espionnage |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɛs.pjɔ.naʒ\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #8,707 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “espionnage” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for espionnage is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛs.pjɔ.naʒ\. Corpus data places it at rank #8,707 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Action d’espionner, d'utiliser un ou des espions ; métier d’espion.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for espionnage, with forms such as "epsionnage", "esiponnage", and "espinonage". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "espionne", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is espionnage, spelled E-S-P-I-O-N-N-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1Action d’espionner, d'utiliser un ou des espions ; métier d’espion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: epsionnage,esiponnage,espinonage,espionage,espionange,espionnaeg,espionnagge,espionngae,espoinnage,esppionnage,esspionnage,sepionnage
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of espionnage - 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.
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 "espionnage"?
What does "espionnage" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "espionnage"?
How do you pronounce "espionnage"?
What language does "espionnage" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “espionnage”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-S-P-I-O-N-N-A-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛs.pjɔ.naʒ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “espionne” - see the side-by-side comparison. espionnage vs espionne
- 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.