ferme
\fɛʁm\
The verdict
“ferme” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,138. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,138
- frequency rank, French
- 3,276
- “F” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a de la consistance, qui offre une certaine résistance.
Corpus desk
Index FR-ferme · ferme · French
ferme · rank #1,138 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,138
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,276
- PHOTO-FINISH environnement
Nearest frequency peer: environnement (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ferme”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- chanson
chanson
98,866 corpus weight
- département
département
98,865 corpus weight
- environneme…
environnement
98,864 corpus weight
- ferme
ferme
98,863 corpus weight
- final
final
98,862 corpus weight
- internation…
internationale
98,861 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ferme” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | ferme |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \fɛʁm\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,138 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “ferme” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around ferme (IPA \fɛʁm\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #1,138 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ferme, with forms such as "efrme", "femre", and "ferem". 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, "fête", "free", "fume", 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, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ferme, spelled F-E-R-M-E.
Definition
- 1Qui a de la consistance, qui offre une certaine résistance.
- 2Qui tient fixement.
- 3Dont les propriétés sont stables.
- 4Qui se tient solidement, qui ne chancelle pas.
- 5Vigoureux, fort, en bonne santé
- 6Qui a le caractère de la vigueur, désigne une manière d’exécuter vigoureuse et hardie.
- 7Qui a de la solidité morale, qui ne se laisse ni changer ni détourner ; constant, invariable, inébranlable.
- 8Qui ne se laisse point abattre par l’adversité, intimider par le péril.
- 9Se dit des choses en un sens analogue, de la volonté, l'espérance, la foi…
- 10Solide, assuré ; qui n'hésite ni ne tremble.
- 11Stable, dépourvu de variations.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ferme appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les cœurs se font eux-mêmes des nœuds plus serrés ; et comme les os se rendent plus fermes dans les endroits des ruptures, à cause du secours extraordinaire que la nature donne aux parties blessées ; de même les amis qui se réunissent envoient pour ainsi dire tant d’affection pour renouer l’amitié rompue, qu’elle en demeure à jamais mieux consolidée.
J’ai contemplé l’or doux de tes cheveux, les pierreries limpides de tes yeux, la lumière de tes dents et ta peau ferme nourrie de soleil.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- efrme
- femre
- ferem
- fermme
- ferrme
- fferme
- freme
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ferme - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "ferme"?
What does "ferme" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ferme"?
How do you pronounce "ferme"?
What language does "ferme" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ferme", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "ferme". Here's where to go from here.
- "ferme" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "fête". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,138 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.