excuse

\ɛks.kyz\

/\ɛks.kyz\/ noun

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

The verdict

“excuse” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #2,422. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,422
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Raison que l’on allègue pour expliquer ou atténuer une faute.

Corpus desk

Index FR-excuse · excuse · French

excuse · rank #2,422 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,422
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH eut

Nearest frequency peer: eut (-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 « excuse »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « excuse » 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).

excuse vs exposé
50% similar
excuse vs extase
67% similar
excuse vs excuses
86% similar

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

Key facts for excuse
PropertyValue
Headwordexcuse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛks.kyz\
Letters6
Frequency rank#2,422
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « excuse »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).excusese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « eut » (#2,421), « exprimer » (#2,423), « essentiellement » (#2,420). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « excuse » est au #2,422. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around excuse (IPA \ɛks.kyz\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,422 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for excuse, with forms such as "ecxuse", "exccuse", and "excsue". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "exposé", "extase", "excuses", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is excuse, spelled E-X-C-U-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Raison que l’on allègue pour expliquer ou atténuer une faute.
  2. 2
    Dispense d’une obligation, en particulier scolaire.
  3. 3
    Carte du jeu de tarot, l’un des trois bouts et sorte de joker qui ne remporte pas le pli (sauf en cas de grand chelem) mais reste dans le camp qui la possède à condition qu’elle ne soit pas jouée dans la dernière levée. Caractère Unicode : 🃠.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ces malfaiteurs littéraires voudraient persuader de tels hommes qu'ils n'ont pas besoin d’excuse et que leur conduite se conforme au dictamen de la nature.
  2. Excuse légitime, valable, recevable.

Synonyms

subterfuge

This word in other languages

excuse(English)excusa(Español)Entschuldigung(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ecxuse
  • exccuse
  • excsue
  • excues
  • excusse
  • exucse
  • exxcuse
  • xecuse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ecxuse2exccuse1excsue2excues2excusse1exucse2exxcuse1xecuse2
Edit distance from "excuse"

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 "excuse"?
"excuse" is spelled E-X-C-U-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛks.kyz\.
What does "excuse" mean?
As a noun, "excuse" means: Raison que l’on allègue pour expliquer ou atténuer une faute.
What words are commonly confused with "excuse"?
"excuse" is commonly confused with "exposé", "extase", "excuses". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "excuse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "excuse" is \ɛks.kyz\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "excuse" come from?
"excuse" 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 "excuse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

fermer#2,424Hausse#2,425couper#2,418mairie#2,430

Similar misspelling depth

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

manuel8 variantsmillion8 variantsarabes8 variantsapporte8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list