ex post facto
\ɛks pɔst fak.to\
The verdict
“ex post facto” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Postérieur au fait et, généralement, rétroactif sur celui-ci.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ex post facto |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ɛks pɔst fak.to\ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ex post facto” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for ex post facto is 13 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛks pɔst fak.to\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ex post facto, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is ex post facto, spelled E-X- -P-O-S-T- -F-A-C-T-O.
Definition
- 1Postérieur au fait et, généralement, rétroactif sur celui-ci.
- 2Qualifie une loi édictée après un fait mais qui s’applique rétroactivement à ce fait antérieur.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ex post facto”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-X- -P-O-S-T- -F-A-C-T-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛks pɔst fak.to\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.