existe
\ɛɡ.zist\
The verdict
“existe” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #554 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #554
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de exister.
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 | existe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ɛɡ.zist\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #554 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “existe” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for existe is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛɡ.zist\. Corpus data places it at rank #554 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for existe, with forms such as "eixste", "exiset", and "exisste". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "exit", "exister", "existes", and more, 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 is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is existe, spelled E-X-I-S-T-E.
Definition
- 1Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de exister.
- 2Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de exister.
- 3Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de exister.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de exister.
- 5Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de exister.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eixste,exiset,exisste,existte,exitse,exsite,exxiste,xeiste
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of existe - 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 "existe"?
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Using “existe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-X-I-S-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛɡ.zist\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “exit” - see the side-by-side comparison. existe vs exit
- 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.